Umami Meats' partnership with Ingredion will help the firm develop and launch cell-cultured fish fillets and Thai-style crab cakes in August 2023 © Umami Meats
After recently announcing a patent for its cell-cultured seafood technology and debuting its fish ball laksa in August, Umami Meats is making further strides in the cell-based space. Its new partnership with Ingredion, which was announced as part of Singapore 2022 Agri-food Week, will help the firm develop and launch cell-cultured fish fillets and Thai-style crab cakes in August 2023. Umami Meats plans to host a private tasting event later this month.
“We’re excited to be able to showcase our first structured prototypes,” Mihir Pershad, Umami Meats’ founder and CEO, said in a statement. “With this product showcase, our goal is to demonstrate the versatility of our cultivated fish and the wide range of desirable, structured products that we plan to supply via high-end restaurants as progressive regulatory changes occur in each of our target launch markets. In the coming months, we look forward to unveiling additional collaborations that will enable us to bring premium cultivated products to discerning consumers around the world.”
The prototypes are made from cultivated fish cells and will use scaffolding provided by Ingredion. According to Ingredion’s senior director of sales and technical services Rohit Tipnis, the collaboration will enhance the quality of Umami's products.
“Innovation is at the heart of our partnership with Umami Meats. Working with cultivated seafood and meat presents the next step towards sustainable innovation,” Tipnis said. “Through this collaboration, Ingredion introduced a functional system that provides the ideal texture and structure to the Thai-style fish cakes. Umami Meats successfully leveraged Ingredion’s formulation expertise and extensive portfolio of sustainable solutions to launch a product with consumer-preferred taste, texture and flavour in the market.”
Advocates of cell-cultured seafood say that the emerging technology will play a key role in meeting growing global seafood demand. Many firms in the space are working to create red-listed species that are difficult to farm and that face environmental pressure or extinction. Umami Meats envisions a future where cultivated seafood can, "enable food producers around the world to provide consumers with locally-produced, healthy, nutritious and delicious seafood without depleting or degrading our oceans."
*Umami Meats is part of Hatch's investment portfolio, but The Fish Site retains editorial independence.
