ContactCustomer area

How to flavour vegan alternatives to fish

  • Plant-based fish alternatives have great potential for expansion and we face the challenge of achieving products that taste like the sea, without incorporating animal ingredients.
  • A new range of flavourings made from DHA oil, an essential fatty acid found in microalgae, allows us to provide real fish flavour in a natural way, without allergens and in compliance with Halal and Kosher requirements.

Reducing animal protein in our diets is an increasingly widespread habit among the population. While four out of five consumers say they have already significantly reduced their meat consumption, the seafood market is expanding to offer vegan alternatives to fish. The industry is focusing on fish with the challenge of accurately mimicking taste and texture. Alifarma has a new range of flavourings made from DHA oil, an essential fatty acid found in fish oils and microalgae. The flavourings are extracted from them to provide a powerful, all-natural, allergen-free and more sustainable flavouring solution. Want to know more? read on!

The rise of plant-based protein and a focus on sustainability are among the world's food trends, according to a new report by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). studies by the consultancy firm Kantar. The Good Food Institute report, based on retail data from NielsenIQ in 13 European countries, found that plant-based meat alternatives had a turnover of €2 billion in Europe in 2021 and already represent 6% of the meat market. Meanwhile, fish and seafood alternatives are performing better in unit sales, with a growth of 300% over the same period. Seafood alternatives have great potential for expansion and although it is the fastest growing category, it remains the least developed. (https://gfieurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2020-2022-Europe-retail-market-insights.pdf).

Achieving vegan products that taste like fish without incorporating any animal ingredients is a real headache for many producers.

The challenge: Flavouring with NO fish, NO allergens, naturally and sustainably.

Most commercial natural flavourings on the market are produced by processing fish or shellfish waste. Therefore, they do not meet the requirements for vegan products. There is also the possibility to flavour fish in food matrices by adding flavourings. They can be natural, kosher or even halal, but strangely they meet all three requirements.

However, there is an alternative that does meet them and gives us a real fishy taste. We are talking about a new range of flavourings made from DHA oil: an essential polyunsaturated fatty acid of the omega-3 series found in fish oils and microalgae. The flavourings are extracted from these microalgae, providing us with a powerful flavouring solution. It is a product:

  • Vegan
  • CleanLabel
  • 100% allergen free
  • Real fish profile
  • Sustainable production

It is very difficult to find natural, allergen-free flavourings and/or flavouring bases with good fish profiles. In addition to the challenge of taste, we are faced with the challenge of developing products that offer a mouthfeel as similar as possible to real fish. These vegan flavouring solutions have a wide range of applications, both in alternative preparations to fish as well as in ready meals, burgers, nuggets, broths etc.

Innovation and sustainability 

Consumers are still interested in exploring plant-based products due to an increased awareness of animal welfare and the impact their habits have on the environment.

As Guillermina García explains in ehis article in The Food Tech there are 5 major challenges to innovation in this field:

  • Choose the right protein source based on cost, supply, nutritional value, taste.
  • To reproduce the mouthfeel of eating real fish or seafood.
  • Use vegan, cleanlabel and healthy ingredients.
  • Get products with good nutritional value, high in protein, omega-3 and low in fat.
  • Recreate the taste of the fish.

The demand for these products is still latent and more and more plant-based seafood and fish can be found on the market. Alternatives that could experience a great expansion in the coming years.

At Alifarma we offer you our range of flavourings made from DHA microalgae oil. Do not hesitate to contact to discover all the details, our team will be able to accompany you through the whole process of applying these ingredients.

You may also be interested in

See all