Karavela to launch plant-based seafood line, brand

Riga, Latvia-headquartered fish canning company SIA Karavela will unveil a new plant-based seafood product line and brand at an online launch event that it is hosting on 29 September 2021.

In a press release, Karavela said following extensive experimentation with more than 100 different recipes, it has developed a vegan seafood product range that includes salads, spreads, and flakes, alongside a new vegan tuna fillet product.

Karavela said the new product range aims to satisfy the growing global demand for food that supports a sustainable lifestyle.

“Currently, there is a lack of understanding about how plant-based seafood products should taste. We are planning to change that, combining our extensive experience as a canned fish producer with sustainable innovation in the realm of plant-based ingredients. With the launch of our vegan products range, we plan to become trendsetters in the plant-based seafood product market leading the way for other brands that want to create new vegan products and tastes,” Karavela CEO Andris Bite said.

The company’s online presentation will disclose the ingredients and technology behind their new products, but for now it will only impart that the main ingredient is “one of the most-sustainable plant proteins,” based on carbon footprint estimations in cultivation, processing, drying, and waste management.

In 2020, Karavela processed more than 16,000 metric tons (MT) of fish. It also posted its best-ever turnover of EUR 66 million (USD 77.3 million), and saw its products exported to 46 countries.

The company’s main raw materials are mackerels, herrings, sardines, sprats, tuna, mussels, and salmon. It also purchases surimi shrimps and crab claws from VIČI.

Bite previously told SeafoodSource Karavela has grown at a rate of 20 to 30 percent annually over the past five years and that its 2021 sales will total more than 90 million cans, and that he expects 2022 sales to exceed 100 million cans.