Thai Union launched an Innovation Challenge in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit to look for ambitious, early-stage innovators developing novel ingredients and applications from ocean-derived ingredients.

Out of over 60 entries submitted from all over the world, three finalists have been selected by the Thai Union judges. They will pitch live on stage to a global audience of agri-food brands, corporates and investors, before a winner is crowned at the summit in Singapore.

Chris Aurand, Open innovation Leader at Thai Union sheds a light on the quality of entries received this year,

“We received a diverse pool of applicants, with solutions spanning across the seafood value chain from aquaculture to seaweed and algae derived ingredients to final products. Selecting three finalists that align with our ingredient and sustainability goals, was an inspiring and insightful exercise as it highlighted what entrepreneurs view as opportunities in the industry.”

Scroll down to see the start-ups who qualified through to the final round:

350 PPM Biotech

350PPM Biotech produces fish protein with a fast-growing bacterium that feeds solely on CO2 and H2. Initial tests on salmon and shrimp have shown that the company’s protein-rich biomass can replace ingredients such as fish meal and soy protein. 350PPM believes it also has potential for food companies developing vegan fish substitutes. The wild-type strain can also produce ectoin, a highly sought-after ingredient for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

In addition to a continuous fermentation process, 350PPM holds a broad patent on the genetic modification of its organism. The company already engineered strains that produce therapeutic proteins and other valuable substances, all using only CO2 and hydrogen.

Ingrediome

Ingrediome uses photosynthetic fermentation to produce nature identical animal proteins to recreate meat and sea-food products without using animals. It maps the culinary function of sea-food proteins utilising blue-green algae  to produce recombinant animal proteins in a sustainable method. The company successfully created the world’s first hybrid scallop with 80% of nature identical scallop proteins with a production process that is carbon negative, low in capex and requires minimal workforce.

Oceanium

OCEANIUM’s highly technical biorefinery process extracts maximum value from sustainably farmed seaweed to produce plant-based food ingredients (OCEAN HEALTH® Fiber and OCEAN HEALTH® Protein) and high-purity bioactives for health and wellness to meet increasing demand for sustainable ingredients. Sustainably farmed seaweed helps to mitigate ocean eutrophication by absorbing nitrogen/phosphorous, increases biodiversity by protecting nursery grounds and seabeds and, unlike land-based agriculture, seaweed requires no cleared land, fresh water, insecticide/fertiliser therefore ensures food security as land-based feedstocks become more susceptible to climate change.

 

 

THE FINAL

Over 100+ delegates will join the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit in Singapore to witness these start-ups pitch their solutions to senior Thai Union executives before a winner is announced. The winner will benefit from technical expertise, regulatory assistance, and formulation development from Thai Union’s global innovation team to bring their ideas to life and make a positive impact in the realm of diet and nutrition.

For full information about the Thai Union Innovation Challenge, visit www.agrifoodinnovation.com/thai-union-innovation-challenge

ABOUT THAI UNION

Thai Union Group PCL is the world’s seafood leader, bringing high quality, healthy, tasty and innovative seafood products to customers across the world for 46 years.

Today, Thai Union is regarded as one of the world’s leading seafood producers and is one of the largest producers of shelf-stable tuna products with annual sales exceeding THB 155.6 billion (US$ 4.4 billion) and a global workforce of more than 44,000 people who are dedicated to pioneering sustainable, innovative seafood products.

The company’s global brand portfolio includes market-leading international brands such as Chicken of the Sea, John West, Petit Navire, Parmentier, Mareblu, King Oscar, Hawesta, and Rügen Fisch, Thai-leading brands SEALECT, Fisho, Qfresh, Monori, OMG Meat, Bellotta and Marvo, and ingredient and supplement brands UniQ®BONE, UniQ®DHA and ZEAvita.

As a company committed to “Healthy Living, Healthy Oceans,” Thai Union is proud to be a member of the United Nations Global Compact, a founding participating company of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), and current Chair of Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS). Thai Union’s ongoing work through its SeaChange® sustainability strategy was recognized when the company was listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for the ninth consecutive year in 2022. The company was ranked number one on the Food Products Industry Index of the DJSI, a position it previously held in 2018 and 2019. Thai Union was also named to the FTSE4Good Emerging Index for the sixth straight year in 2021. Find out more about the Group’s sustainability at seachangesustainability.org.