Finless Foods Promises Realistic Plant-Based Tuna With 2022 Rollout

A company called Finless Foods plans to launch a plant-based raw tuna product next year that it claims offers a realistic texture and flavor. The food product will join the largely beef- and sausage-flavored plant-based meat products currently on the market, offering consumers who have seafood allergies, vegetarians, and others the option to enjoy tuna meals without contributing to overfishing.

Finless Foods revealed that it will launch its plant-based tuna, which is made from nine ingredients, next year through foodservice channels and restaurants. The plant-based version of the tuna shouldn't be confused with the company's cell-cultured tuna product; the latter is made from cells harvested from real tuna fish while the former is made from whole plant-based ingredients.

For this reason, the plant-based version of Finless Foods' tuna is vegan-friendly as none of the ingredients come from animals. The company says that it made the plant-based tuna to be a 1:1 'experience' of eating raw tuna, at least when it comes to mouthfeel, flavor, and texture.

The plant-based version of the fish can be used in the same way as actual raw tuna, meaning you may consume it in sushi in the future. The big benefit to plant-based tuna is the lack of mercury, which remains a concern when it comes to wild tuna products.

As well, plant-based and cell-cultured tuna remove the fishing aspect of this food product, which has become an increasing concern from an environmental standpoint. Of course, the plant-based version of the tuna product will also be safe for people who have seafood allergies, whereas the cell-cultured version is actual tuna fish (just not from the ocean) and therefore wouldn't be safe for people with allergies to eat.