© Hudson Sandler
One of the world’s leading seafood producers, Thai Union set the challenge to discover fresh ideas and solutions that will support its SeaChange 2030 Sustainability Strategy, which aims to reshape the seafood industry.
The Innovation Challenge, ‘Novel Ingredients and Applications from Ocean-Derived Ingredients’, attracted entries from over 60 agri-food startups around the world. After a rigorous selection process, two finalists - Ingrediome, and Oceanium - had the opportunity to showcase their innovative solutions on stage in Singapore, to the Thai Union judges and a global summit audience of global agri-food stakeholders.
UK-based Oceanium presented its biorefinery process which claims to extract maximum value from sustainably farmed seaweed to produce plant-based food ingredients and high-purity bioactives for health and wellness.
Israeli start-up Ingrediome employs photosynthetic fermentation and maps the culinary function of seafood proteins to produce recombinant animal proteins that are carbon negative, low in capex, and require minimal workforce.
As winner of the Innovation Challenge, Oceanium will have access to Thai Union’s Global Innovation Team for technical expertise, regulatory assistance, and formulation development.
Chris Aurand, open innovation lead at Thai Union, stated in the press release: “We are excited to begin working with Oceanium as their seaweed biorefinery process provides multiple products that we can begin testing with Thai Union. Oceanium fits in well with our SeaChange 2030 strategy by providing opportunities to local seaweed growers, and nutritious solutions that leverage the wholesomeness of the ocean.”
Reacting to the win, Karen Scofield Seal, CEO and co-founder of Oceanium, said: “It is a great honour to win the Thai Union Innovation Challenge. We’re on a journey to provide efficacious, functional seaweed ingredients with excellent traceability and provenance using sustainably sourced seaweed, whilst contributing to people’s health and ocean health. This award and meaningful partnership with Thai Union will help propel us forward at a pivotal moment as we bring our products to market.”
