Swimming With The Faux-Fishes

The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations states one third of the world’s fish stocks are fished at unsustainable levels. At the same time, fish consumption is growing worldwide; with an average increase north of 20% in the years between 1997- 2017. So high have the stakes been raised, and so limited is the resource, it’s forged its way to the forefront of political battles – most notably Brexit.

Clearly, plant-based fish has a role to play in providing solutions in the long term. In this article I delve into some of the challenges faced by the industry.

Making fish from plants:

Right now, the top choice for manufacturers in the faux-fish sector is soy; it has a high nutritional content, functional flexibility, well- established supply and resulting low cost. From a functional perspective, it contains favourable fibrous structure that perform well in the texturizing process. The key drawback is that soy is also an allergen, making it unsuitable for some consumers. Outside of soy, the ever-ubiquitous Pea protein is high in demand, allergen-free, but does brings with it problems in price, off-notes, and supply.

Both the aforementioned require a “wet process” of texturization- if one wishes to…