In collaboration with Seaweed & Co., the Healy Group is expanding its plant-based seafood expertise using PureSea seaweed powders. According to the companies, the powders impart a natural fish flavor to the plant-based seafood category alongside providing front-of-pack health claims.
Using PureSea, Dublin-based ingredients supplier Healy Group has created vegan fish fingers with several health benefits that address huge nutritional deficiencies alongside a natural, umami fish flavor.
Hannah Rackham, group marketing director at the Healy Group, explains that plant-based seafood is a few steps behind plant-based meat in terms of development. However, fish and seafood have a unique, often complex taste and texture, which can be challenging to replicate.
“Unlike goods such as burgers or nuggets, there has long been an association between fish and its health benefits in the UK and Irish markets. This area can certainly be explored further, particularly with products such as fish fingers and coated filets,” she notes.
Not only is the plant-based seafood market picking up pace, but consumer focus on health and wellness through food and drink is also thriving, Rackham underscores.
“People are becoming more aware of what is going into meat and fish analogs, and continue to demand options which contain healthy and natural ingredients. Our collaboration with Seaweed & Co. allows us to directly target this area and substantiate our healthy ingredients with tangible, front-of-pack claims.”
Using other ingredients within its range, Healy Group has built upon PureSea’s natural umami flavor by enhancing texture.
“In addition to nutritional crumb coatings for the likes of coated fishless products, we can create meaty, fish-based cores with cutting-edge technology from partners in the Netherlands,” adds Dr. Paul Sheldrake, group application and technical director.
Utilizing ingredients from the sea
Also speaking with us, Dr. Craig Rose, founder and managing director of Seaweed & Co., flags that developing natural seafood flavors can be challenging.
“Going back to the source of the sea works well with the PureSea seaweed range. The flavor of the sea from the seaweed works extremely well to impart a ‘fishy’ flavor in products, along with the other benefits the ingredients can provide.”
He says that seaweed will likely be an ingredient key to alt-seafood products and broadly across other ranges too.
“Not only does it provide natural flavors of the sea, but also essential nutrition from the sea, which most people are deficient in already. Ultimately, seaweeds are the base of the food chain from which the fish get their nutrients.”
Globally there are around 10,000 species of seaweed.
“Within these, there is only a small number that are used commercially for food and nutrition, and it comes down to their nutrition and flavor properties, but also the ability to scale sustainably and be commercially viable,” Rose explains.
PureSea seaweed focuses on just one species around which the range is developed.
“This species is sustainably wild harvested around the pristine Scottish Outer Hebrides and dried and milled to a powder or granule, making it an ideal ingredient to use in various applications across plant-based fish,” he adds.
Seaweed is the only natural plant-based source of iodine, an essential nutrient that the European Food Standards Agency recently recognized as being low in several sub-populations, and studies show the vast majority of the UK and wider Europe are not consuming enough.
Moreover, fortifying F&B with iodine can allow labeling claims and benefits covering a range of health concerns, including cognitive function, skin and beauty and women’s health.
Sustainable and scalable
The Healy Group believes PureSea powders are a perfect fit for its customer base due to their versatility.
“Not only is it highly sustainable and scalable, but it can also add health benefits to mainstream FMCG products at low doses,” remarks Paul Sheldrake, group application and technical director.
“Just 100 mg per portion is needed to make approved EU health claims for Iodine, including front-of-pack claims for skin health and cognitive function.”
In 2021, two-thirds of global consumers were interested in cognitive health products, up from 54% in 2018, according to data from FMCG Gurus.
“As sales of plant-based food and drink continue to grow in Europe, healthier products which target these trending areas may be one way to stand out in a crowded market,” confirms Rackham.
PureSea is sourced from the Scottish Outer Hebrides using a proprietary “wild-harvesting” process that prioritizes sustainability and traceability. The resulting organic seaweed powders are available in natural and smoked varieties depending on application preference.
“We developed the PureSea range to provide essential nutrition from the sea and naturally boost flavors,” adds Rose. “The ease-of-use in application, and clear market need for the nutrients in PureSea, are key to the company’s vision to see everyone benefit from sustainable seaweed’s health and wellness properties,” he concludes.
