Scientists in search of alternatives to meat and seafood continue to offer different solutions. In addition to red and white meat, which we have seen many alternatives before, an alternative to seafood has now been developed. With the help of a 3D printer, the researchers printed the seafood in question.
A VEGAN ALTERNATIVE IS CREATED WHILE PROTECTING THE PROTEIN VALUE
Huang and his research group at the National University of Singapore have been working on developing vegan seafood for some time. In the final stage, they obtained and printed a special 3D printer puree containing microalgae protein and mung bean proteins.
The team that created the squid rings cooked it with an air fryer and says they tasted close to standard squid rings.
The invention is scheduled to be presented to the American Chemical Society in the future.
Poornima Vijayan, one of the research team, thinks that the access to seafood will decrease in the coming years and says that this can happen in a much shorter time, especially in Singapore.
That’s why the new vegan seafood, which they say they have created from an alternative perspective, stands out with its sustainability side.
There are vegan alternatives to crabs and some fish like this on the market.
In fact, last year Revo Foods, a vegan food technology company based in Vienna, announced that it was producing a plant-based salmon. This fish was also created with a 3D printer and was produced without harming a single fish.
Dejian Huang, another name in the research, thinks that many alternatives on the market do not contain protein, so they cannot go beyond ‘imitation’ because they do not offer equivalent nutritional value.
The team printed not only squid rings but also salmon fillets containing red lentil proteins. Researchers believe that the new breed of vegan squid rings created has potential for commercialization.
So how did the researchers achieve this?
In the lab, they combined proteins from microalgae and legumes with plant-based ingredients that also contain omega-3 fatty acids.
As a result, vegan purees with high protein content were created. This mash content, which is squeezed in layers, was produced with a 3D printer, similar to the squid rings. In the future, it will be cooked with different cooking methods and the most delicious version will be sought.
The research team also wants to introduce the elastic tissue of squid into this alternative food.
