Foodtech start-up Plantish is giving consumers a first look at its flagship product, a 100% plant-based whole-cut salmon fillet, which the company says mimics cooked salmon in texture, taste, appearance, and structure.
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Co-founder and CEO Ofek Ron says that the Plantish team keeps its mission close to its heart – "to save the oceans and eliminate the need to consume marine animals by providing more sustainable, more nutritious, and more delicious fish options."
According to market research firm IMARC Group, the seafood market today is worth $586 billion, and salmon accounts for $50 billion of that. Approximately 80% of fish is consumed whole or in fillet form. But the alternative seafood sector offers mainly minced fish options because of the complexities of producing whole "cuts."
The technical difficulties come not only in creating a facsimile of the taste, texture, and mouthfeel of fish from the ocean, but also its structure and scalability. Producers need to find the right plant proteins to achieve fibrous stands that will stand in for fish flesh.
The first product Plantish is launching is Plantish Salmon, which the company describes as a fully structured, boneless plant-based salmon fillet. The startup says Plantish Salmon has the same nutritional value as conventional salmon, and is high in protein, Omega-3s, Omega-6s, and B vitamins. And as an added bonus, unlike fish from the ocean or aquaculture, their product is reportedly free of mercury, antibiotics, hormones, microplastics, and toxins.
"Our vision is to be the world's leading seafood brand," says Ron, "all without hurting a single fish."
Plantish's current prototype can be cooked in all the ways that conventional salmon is prepared. The company plans to introduce its salmon fillets at select pop-up locations by the end of 2022, and officially roll it out in 2024.
Plantish joined the burgeoning alternative protein start-up scene in early 2021 and shortly thereafter after raised a pre-seed round of $2 million from TechAviv Founder Partners, and angel investors that include Michelin-starred chef José Andrés and Nuseir Yassin of the Nas Daily vlog.
The founders of Plantish are a mix of serial entrepreneurs, bioengineering and chemistry PhDs, and foodtech executives.
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