Salmon Steak and Sausage Made from Marine Microalgae to Be Released!

Pukyong National University Selected for Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' Alternative Seaweed Meat and Seafood Cultured Meat Technology Development Project

Salmon steaks and sausages made from alternative seaweed meat, a material produced from marine microalgae, a type of phytoplankton, are expected to be introduced.

National Pukyong University (President Jang Youngsoo) announced on the 30th that the research team led by Professor Kim Youngmok (Department of Food Engineering) has been selected for the "2024 Alternative Seaweed Meat and Cultured Seafood Technology Development Project" organized by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

Professor Youngmok Kim, Pukyong National University.

With this selection, the research team will receive a total of 6.25 billion KRW in research funding over five years until 2028 to carry out the project "Commercialization Technology Development of Microalgae-Based Alternative Seaweed Meat."

Alternative seaweed meat refers to food products manufactured to resemble animal meat using plant-based proteins derived from seaweed and microalgae.

Recently, with food crises driven by climate change and population growth, and the trend toward sustainable consumption, "Blue Food Tech," a convergence technology related to highly nutritious and environmentally valuable seafood, is emerging. This has prompted the development of technologies to lead the future global seafood market.

Alternative seaweed meat is also gaining attention as a solution to overcome the limitations of land-based alternative protein materials developed so far, such as safety concerns, allergenicity, and nutritional imbalance.

The goal of the National Pukyong University research team for this project is to develop commercialization technologies, including alternative seaweed meat materials and products utilizing microalgae, in order to secure a leading position in the future food industry market and strengthen competitiveness in the food sector.

To achieve this, National Pukyong University, as the lead institution, has formed a team with academic and research institutions such as the Korea Food Research Institute, Sungshin Women's University, Jeonbuk National University, and Korea Maritime Institute, as well as industry partners including Dongwon F&B, Dainsojae, and Samjin Food.

Going forward, the research team will focus on: ▲ Extraction of proteins derived from Chlorella and Spirulina using microbial fermentation ▲ Development of eco-friendly seafood-based binders and microalgae-structured proteins using these binders ▲ Development of sensory evaluation systems for creating sensory materials that replicate the texture and flavor of meat ▲ Establishment of sensory implementation indicators and development of sensory materials using the sensory evaluation system.

In particular, the team plans to develop and commercialize prototypes of alternative seaweed meat products (ground-type alternative seaweed meat patties, alternative seaweed meat sausages, HMR soy sauce marinated shrimp using alternative shrimp meat, grilled alternative seaweed meat, plant-based alternative fish meat and imitation fish processed products, and alternative salmon steaks), and to secure strategies for entering domestic and global alternative meat markets through consumer satisfaction surveys.

Professor Kim Youngmok, the principal investigator, is affiliated with the Marine Bionics Convergence Technology Center (Director: Professor Jung Wongyo), a university-focused research institute in science and engineering, and the Food Research Institute (Director: Professor Yang Jiyeong). He has been conducting research on the development of seafood-derived protein materials using microbial fermentation, and has particularly led the field of high-value-added seafood development based on Blue Food Tech.

Professor Kim stated, "Through this project, which is the first step toward securing a leading position in the future seafood industry, we aim to secure core technologies for developing alternative seaweed meat using Chlorella and Spirulina. If we succeed in commercialization, alternative seaweed meat is expected to become a new growth engine for the fisheries sector."