BLUU Seafood’s cultivated fish fingers made from trout cells
Source: BLUU GmbH / Photographer Anna Brauns.
BLUU Seafood, a European food biotech company specializing in cultivated fish protein, has inaugurated its first pilot plant in Europe.
The company has relocated from Lübeck to Hamburg-Altona, upgrading to a 2,000 square meter facility designed for research, production, and office space, BLUU Seafood has confirmed in a press announcement.
The move allows BLUU Seafood to significantly increase its capacity to develop and produce its fish products, which it says match traditional fish in taste, nutritional value, and cooking properties. The aim is to continue scaling up to reach industrial production, the company said.
The new facility includes advanced fermenters with capacities ranging from 65 liters to a potential 2,000 liters. These are used to cultivate fish cells -muscle, fat, and connective tissue - from Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout on a much larger scale than previously possible.
Researchers at work in BLUU Seafood's new facility in Hamburg-Altona.
"With the facilities at our new site, we are laying the foundations to supply the first markets. In Hamburg, we have the ideal conditions to continue to grow and continuously reduce production costs," said Dr Sebastian Rakers, co-founder and co-CEO, in a press release.
"At present, the cost of producing cultivated fish is still higher than the average price of wild and farmed fish, but this will gradually change as capacity increases."
"If the scalability and market conditions are favorable, 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," Rakers added.
"I am very proud of my team and very happy and excited about our beautiful new headquarters! The last months were filled with lab planning, building and installments and now seeing a great space to work, experiment, develop and scale our technology further is an incredibly fulfilling moment. Thanks to all who made this possible!" Rakers also wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the development.
The German start-up announced last year it had successfully completed its Series A funding round, securing 16 million euros (17.5 million US dollars).
BLUU Seafood expects to secure its first regulatory approval from Singapore in early 2025, followed by the US and the European Union.