Nestle enters plant-based seafood market with tuna analog

Nestle’s new plant-based tuna analog finishes off a half-year of soaring plant-based sales for the Swiss-based food giant.

Nestle’s first foray into plant-based seafood alternatives is a tuna analog that has the “flaky texture and rich flavor that makes tuna a favorite in many meals,” the food manufacturer said in a press release.

"Sustainably produced plant-based seafood alternatives can help to reduce overfishing and to protect the biodiversity of our oceans. Our plant-based tuna alternative is delicious, nutritious, and high in protein,” Nestle Chief Technology Officer Stefan Palzer said in a press release. “We are excited to launch this great product, and other plant-based fish and shellfish alternatives are already under development.”

Nestle already realized a 40 percent spike in sales of plant-based and vegetarian food products in the first half of 2020, Food Navigator reported.

“At the moment, people are rediscovering cooking at home, and part of that is plant-based,” a Nestle spokesperson told the publication. “They are cooking at home and experimenting more and looking at different options to have a home and plant-based is a big element of that.”

The tuna analog, made from six ingredients, including pea protein, will be first launched under Nestle’s Garden Gourmet brand in Switzerland. It will be available as a chilled product in a glass jar, and will be offered in sandwiches in select stores.

Nestlé developed the tuna alternative within nine months, “leveraging its deep expertise in protein science and proprietary technologies,” the company said.

It already sells a variety of plant-based products, including alternatives to burgers, mince, meatballs, sausages, cold cuts, chicken nuggets, and chicken filets.

In related news, the Good Food Institute’s Sustainable Seafood Initiative recently launched a beta version of the Phylogenetic Index of Seafood CharactEriStics (PISCES), a resource for researchers and companies pursuing plant-based and cultivated seafood.

GFI has begun compiling resources relevant to individual seafood species to “position available data in a useful context for alternative seafood development,” GFI said in a press release.

Photo courtesy of Nestle