Tuna created directly from fish cells may soon be on the menu in South-East Asia thanks to a new collaboration which is being hailed as a way of meeting demand for the highly prized bluefin tuna.
US food company BlueNalu is teaming up with restaurant operator, Food & Life Companies (F&LC), to develop a way for the supply of bluefin tuna and other sushi-grade products to meet demand across the latter’s 1,000 restaurants in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and mainland China.
“Cell-cultured seafood is a supply-chain solution that will have the taste, texture and nutrition that consumers expect, and will not be susceptible to environmental contaminants like mercury and microplastics,” explained Lou Cooperhouse, president and chief executive of BlueNalu.
Research will initially focus on the belly portion of bluefin tuna, called toro. Bluefin tuna is a delicacy in Japan, where 80% of the world’s supply is consumed, and commands premium pricing. But with consumption seafood at an all time high and continuing to grow, the UN estimates that 28 million extra tonnes of seafood will be needed to meet demand by 2030.
“With the uncertainty of natural marine resources in the future, it is important that we secure a stable supply of seafood in a more sustainable manner,” said Koichi Mizutome, president and chief executive of F&LC.
“We have already been promoting the use of farmed seafood as one of the ways to achieve this, but as seafood demand increases in the future, there will be increasing challenges with our global supply chain.
“Therefore, we are eager to incorporate BlueNalu’s cell-cultured seafood as we believe it is one of the most promising methods to help solve these issues,” he added.
