Foodtech start-up Plantish is giving consumers a first look at its flagship product, a 100% plant-based whole-cut salmon fillet, which the company says mimics cooked salmon in texture, taste, appearance, and structure.

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Co-founder and CEO Ofek Ron says that the Plantish team keeps its mission close to its heart – "to save the oceans and eliminate the need to consume marine animals by providing more sustainable, more nutritious, and more delicious fish options."

According to market research firm IMARC Group, the seafood market today is worth $586 billion, and salmon accounts for $50 billion of that. Approximately 80% of fish is consumed whole or in fillet form. But the alternative seafood sector offers mainly minced fish options because of the complexities of producing whole "cuts."

The technical difficulties come not only in creating a facsimile of the taste, texture, and mouthfeel of fish from the ocean, but also its structure and scalability. Producers need to find the right plant proteins to achieve fibrous stands that will stand in for fish flesh.

The first product Plantish is launching is Plantish Salmon, which the company describes as a fully structured, boneless plant-based salmon fillet. The startup says Plantish Salmon has the same nutritional value as conventional salmon, and is high in protein, Omega-3s, Omega-6s, and B vitamins. And as an added bonus, unlike fish from the ocean or aquaculture, their product is reportedly free of mercury, antibiotics, hormones, microplastics, and toxins.

"Our vision is to be the world's leading seafood brand," says Ron, "all without hurting a single fish."

Plantish's current prototype can be cooked in all the ways that conventional salmon is prepared. The company plans to introduce its salmon fillets at select pop-up locations by the end of 2022, and officially roll it out in 2024.

Plantish joined the burgeoning alternative protein start-up scene in early 2021 and shortly thereafter after raised a pre-seed round of $2 million from TechAviv Founder Partners, and angel investors that include Michelin-starred chef José Andrés and Nuseir Yassin of the Nas Daily vlog.

The founders of Plantish are a mix of serial entrepreneurs, bioengineering and chemistry PhDs, and foodtech executives.

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A startup based in Tel Hai in northern Israel might have accidentally struck gold in the search for ingredients that will make plant-based meat alternatives "bloody."

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Yemoja, Ltd., which focuses on developing marine ingredients for the nutraceutical and cosmetics B2B sectors, has discovered that red microalgae can mimic the "bloody" juiciness of medium-rare plant-based burgers and steaks.

"While working on a new formulation for cosmetic applications, we serendipitously discovered that this specific composition yields a substance that resembles blood in appearance and texture," notes Dr. Amikam Bar-Gil, co-founder and CTO of Yemoja.

"Encouraged by the first test results, we decided to push the boundaries further and take it to the next level, trying it out in test products. The results were an immediate proof of concept," Bar-Gil says.

The company's formulation, branded Ounje – meaning "food" in the Yoruba language – is derived from the Porphyridium strain of algae, which it grows indoors. Yemoja says that the algae-based ingredient could potentially serve as a 100% plant-based substitute for heme for the alternative meat industry.

Yemoja reports that its patented microalgal heme substitute not only provides the initial red pigment to raw plant-based meats, it also browns up nicely when put to the sizzle. It also congeals like real meat juices, "expressing a viscosity similar to gelatin when cooked," the company says, citing an "appealing crunchiness and appetizing meat aroma."

Beyond the visual and textural meat-like appeal that the algae provides, microalgae is a highly sustainable crop, boasting a 20%-30% protein load and harbors the complete essential amino acids profile. Algae are also a valuable source of essential fatty acids, polyphenols as well as minerals and vitamins, and gaining esteem as a powerful superfood.

"The demand for clean, naturally sourced alternative proteins that can dually exert a less harmful impact on the environment is an internationally sought venture," adds Erez Ashkenazi, co-founder and CEO of Yemoja. "Our advanced patented cultivation system offers a high-value yet cost-effective solution that can be easily scaled up to the unique needs of the various alt protein/meat producers to help bolster this rapidly growing category."

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Peace of Meat, a Belgian subsidiary of Israeli foodtech startup MeaTech 3D, which is developing a suite of advanced manufacturing technologies for cultivated meat production, has cultivated just over 700 grams (1.54 pounds) of pure chicken fat biomass in a single production run, the company announced this week.

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This is believed to be the first public demonstration of growth in a single run of this quantity of 100% pure cultivated cell biomass, grown entirely outside an animal.

While many consumers enjoy plant-based meat alternatives, many find it falls short of replicating the flavor and mouthfeel of conventional meat. MeaTech believes that real cultured animal fats can potentially deliver signature flavors, aromas, and textures currently derived from conventional farmed meat, thus delivering an enhanced consumer experience when combined with plant-based ingredients. This new product category is referred to as hybrid meat.

MeaTech CTO Sharon Fima said, "The production capabilities we have demonstrated … are a successful step in line with our strategy of developing a pilot plant for cultivated fat production, which we are planning for 2022."

David Brandes, managing director of the Peace of Meat subsidiary, commented, "Producing this quantity of pure cultured material in one run is a breakthrough toward potentially manufacturing cultivated chicken fat at an industrial scale and cost parity."

According to Brandes, the product is designed to be "just like conventional chicken fat."

"Today's preliminary production success brings us one step closer to our longer-term goal of changing human diets towards more sustainable, yet equally savory, food choices," Brandes explained.

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Whether its new kinds of plant-based protein alternatives or mind-boggling ways of producing actual slaughter-free meat, Israel's food tech scene is on the cutting edge.

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Alfred's FoodTech Ltd. is one of the newer players on the country's alternative protein scene with a platform that solves one of the sector's main challenges: creating whole cuts that mimic their animal-based counterparts in terms of texture, mouthfeel, and flavor tones. So far, it has produced prototypes of plant-based deli meat and high-in-demand chicken nugget analogs.

Various food technologies already serve the rapidly growing alternative protein scene. Alfred's technology is able to build continuous tissue like structures and can work with other existing technologies.

Family legacy

In 1935, Jacob and Dina Reinberg, together with their son Alfred and his siblings, emigrated from Germany to Argentina. The family settled near Buenos Aires, where they raised dairy cows. As a young man, Alfred worked at the cold meat production factory La Foresta as a foreman. His son, Raul, moved to Israel and spent years employed at the dairy giant Tnuva.

Alfred's grandson, Ronny Reinberg, is a biotechnology engineer who re-imagined the family's tradition to meet modern demands for meat-like products with the help of technology.

A committed vegan for 10 years, he joined forces with mechanical engineer and lab to scale production expert Rafi Shavit to formulate an appetizing alternative meat solution.

"Plant-based whole-cut products that resemble meat are the 'Holy Grail' of the industry," says Reinberg.

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 "Our tech uses only simple ingredients, such as pea protein and canola oil. Yet we can still custom-design compositions for food companies using protein sources of their choice, including cell-based ingredients. With Alfred's versatile technology, any food company can easily create alternative products that give consumers the exact experience of real meat and poultry," Reinberg explains.

Accelerating scale-up

Alfred says its technology can scale up outputs quickly, making it suitable for mass market-oriented food corporations, and can be integrated into existing food processing systems. The start-up plans to establish a low-volume production site to serve initial market demand.

"We were founded with the goal of bolstering food companies and innovators within the alternative protein landscape," Shavit notes. "We see ourselves as the engine that enables companies achieve new organoleptic heights in plant-based protein alternatives. Our mission is to elevate the plant-based experience for the growing 'conscious eating' consumer market notably flexitarians aspiring to presume more plant-based lifestyles but still crave for that sensation of biting into a beefy steak."

Alfred's FoodTech formed earlier this year and already has raised $1.3 million in seed funding. The company is now entering its next A-round stage and is currently in talks with international food producers.

Alfred's is scheduled to will take part in the pitch slam at the annual Good Food Institute (GFI) conference on Sept. 23 as one of the 12 finalists chosen to present their company and technology.

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