Seafood without a catch: N.S. startups and scientists investigate plant-based fish

The fishy fillet Greg Potter is holding looks, in many ways, like a piece of fish.

Though not as thick as a typical portion of whitefish served up in Nova Scotia restaurants, its interior is white and flaky, suggesting something sourced from the sea. But its true identity is something else entirely.

This fillet is made from plant proteins, starches, and fermented ingredients — a combination Potter's startup, Profillet, hopes can satisfy the demand for whitefish.

This goal isn't unique to Profillet. Plant-based seafood is growing quickly, with market research suggesting an industry valued at $82 million in 2022 could increase to $1.3 billion by 2030.

In Nova Scotia, researchers and companies are looking to meet that demand, with benefits for people and the planet. 

"Everywhere you look around the world, fish stocks have been depleted or are extinct," says Potter, a co-founder of Profillet based in Halifax.

"There's an opportunity for fishing stocks to rebound if we give them a bit of a chance, and the way to do that is to produce equivalent products made from plants and other novel ingredients."

Potter says the flaking and muscle structure of fish make the task of creating plant alternatives more challenging than mimicking other meats.

Profillet experienced this first-hand. Their early attempts weren't great, says Steve George, with Profillet. But over time, they developed a fillet that mimics the texture and flavour of catfish, while also containing the same nutrients.

The company does this using plant proteins — mostly soy — as well as ingredients made through fermentation, including fermentation of microalgae, and ingredients made through a process called precision fermentation, to provide omega-3s, as well as a plausibly fishy taste. 

George says the reception to plant-based seafood has been muted to date because there haven't been great options; products are either unpalatable, or more expensive than conventional fish.

But advocates for plant-based seafood say that's changing.

Claire Bomkamp, senior lead scientist with the Good Food Institute, a U.S. non-profit that works with academics and companies to investigate alternative proteins, says the amount of people working on seafood alternatives has increased rapidly in recent years.

In Canada, other plant-based seafood companies include Toronto startup New School Foods, which has developed a salmon fillet, as well as Vancouver-based Konscious Foods, which offers plant-based sushi. Halifax-based Smallfood creates an ingredient from fermented microalgae that's used in alternative seafood.

If successful, alternative seafood has the potential to increase access to good quality "seafood" — which may also encourage uptake.

"Just saying 'Don't eat fish' — that's a really hard sell for a lot of people," says Bomkamp. "But if you can offer something that is at least as good from a purely, purely selfish, hedonistic standpoint, then that's ultimately what's going to get you to a place … where people actually buy your product."

One of the research projects supported by the Good Food Institute is led by Marcia English, associate professor in the department of human nutrition at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S.

For the last two years, English has been leading a team investigating a plant-based alternative that could mimic the flavour of Atlantic salmon, using proteins made from pulses, as well as plant-based lipids to mimic salmon's flavour and omega-3-rich nutritional content. 

Because people have studied the flavour profile of real Atlantic salmon, researchers have been able to use that data as a target, comparing it to the compounds found in their formula. Still, the taste test is the most important step.

"The consumer is always almost the gold standard," says English.

English says the team has come up with a "very promising" flavour formulation; the next step is determining how to process that into a product people can eat.

Plant-based salmon, like real salmon, spoils quickly because of its high fat content, which makes production more difficult, says English, and creating salmon's flaky texture is difficult. 

English says seafood alternatives may also be lower on people's radars because Canadians eat less seafood than terrestrial meat; about half of Canadians consume meat daily, compared to less than two per cent of the population who do the same for seafood. Meanwhile, interest in plant-based meat has waned since 2022, as the rising cost of living has driven consumers away from expensive meat alternatives. 

Still, English says the awareness of seafood alternatives has started to shift.

"There's been a real movement towards decreasing animal intake in our diets, but certainly the oceans are a big part of the equation as well," she says.

"It's just a little bit behind, but I would say equally important."

As for Profillet, which is currently fully remote with manufacturing in New Jersey, they say their plan is to locate the startup in Nova Scotia, where they see a location-based advantage, as well as an advantage due to the province's maritime tradition.

Steve George says the plan is to get the product into limited trials in 2025, with a full rollout in 2027.

"If Nova Scotia is able to take a lead on this, then essentially the whole Eastern Seaboard of North America is Nova Scotia's oyster — so to speak."