BLUU Seafood Expands Cultivated Fish Production in Preparation for Market Entry, Predicts Price Parity With Fish Within 3 Years – vegconomist
Europe’s largest cultivated seafood biotech, the German startup BLUU Seafood, announces that it has officially inaugurated its first pilot plant in Hamburg-Altona.
The new facility boasts 2,000 m2 of space dedicated to research, production, and office use for its 35 employees. It includes state-of-the-art cell and molecular biology labs, process development areas, and a test kitchen for food applications. At the new plant, the company will initially operate 65 L bioreactors, with the potential to expand to 2,000 L to scale to industrial production as it prepares for market entry.
“If the scalability and market conditions are favourable, we will be able to offer cultivated fish at wholesale fish prices in as little as three years“
The startup initially operated on a small scale in a laboratory setting in Lübeck, using stem-cell technology to establish GMO-free fish cell lines to grow muscle, fat, and connective tissue from Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout and make its first prototypes.
Dr Sebastian Rakers, co-founder and co-CEO, explained: “With the facilities at our new site, we can continue to develop our products and prepare intensively for the future market entry of cultivated fish. We are thus laying the foundations to supply the first markets.”
Approval in Singapore
The startup’s initial cultivated fish products, including fish sticks and fish balls, are said to offer similar taste, nutritional profile, and cooking characteristics to traditional products. Furthermore, as the fish cells are cultivated in a controlled indoor setting, the products are free from contaminants and microplastics.
Even though cultivated fish is said to be essentially the same product as wild-caught or farmed fish at a cellular level, it is considered a novel food, needing safety testing before being approved for sale.
BLUU Seafood expects to receive approval for its cultivated fish in Singapore in early 2025. GOOD Meat’s cultivated Chichen and Vow’s cultivated quail have already been deemed safe to eat in Singapore. The company has also announced that it is seeking approval in the US and the European Union.
Novel fish at wholesale prices
BLUU Seafood was established in Lübeck in 2020 by Dr Sebastian Rakers and Simon Fabich to produce sustainable and animal-friendly “real and tasty” fish. It has attracted many investors, raising a total of €23 million to date, including a €16 million round to expand its production. The company has also headquarters in Berlin.
The cost of producing cultivated fish is currently higher than the average price of wild and farmed fish, but this will change as capacity increases, says Rakers.
“If the scalability and market conditions are favourable, we will be able to offer cultivated fish at wholesale fish prices in as little as three years. The new site is an important building block in this development,” he adds.
Around the world, 156 food techs have been researching and investing in meat and fish from cell cultures. Companies cultivating fish include Wanda Fish, EFISHient Protein, and Forsea from Israel; Singaporean Umami Bioworks (and its recent merger with Shiok Meats), US biotechs BlueNalu, Wildtype, and Atlantic Fish Co.; and China’s Avant Meats.
