BlueNalu partners with Nutreco to market cell-based seafood

BlueNalu, a start-up developing seafood products directly from fish cells, has formed a strategic partnership with Nutreco to commercialise cellular aquaculture globally as a sustainable option.

The agreement, that builds upon BlueNalu’s cell-based platform technology, is intended to create a more stable and sustainable supply-chain solution as the global demand for seafood is continually increasing.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of SHV Holdings N.V., Nutreco is a producer of animal nutrition, fish feed and processed meat products. Through the collaboration, Nutreco aims to bring its expertise in fish nutrition, raw materials and ingredient procurement, as well as its own technology.

Lou Cooperhouse, president and CEO of BlueNalu, said: “The partnership with Nutreco is another significant milestone for BlueNalu, which will enable our team to accelerate our journey toward commercialisation, while also securing a global supply chain partner.

“We expect this will provide significant value to our company, as it is our objective to introduce our seafood products in a test market during the next two years and launch our products in several global markets by the end of this decade.”

In 2018, the US cellular aquaculture start-up secured $4.5 million just two months after launching. Recently, the San Diego-based company announced the premier culinary demonstration of one of its first commercial products, whole-muscle yellowtail amberjack, which performed the same as a conventional fish fillet in all cooking applications.  

“Since the global demand for protein is increasing, we need to provide protein from a variety of sources, including traditional aquaculture farming as well as new innovative solutions. Nutreco’s strategic partnership with BlueNalu is very exciting as it opens the opportunity to up-scale real seafood production in a highly sustainable way,” said Nutreco CEO Rob Koremans.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Nutreco partnered with Mosa Meat to accelerate the commercial release of its lab-grown meat. In 2019, it announced itself as one of the founding members of a new platform in China that enables start-ups to cooperate with global companies, alongside Danone, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.