Wonton reconstruction: Thai Union's new plant-based-shrimp dumplings, marketed under its OMG brand, and chefs preparing taster plates at a launch event. Photos: Maarten Geraets, Thai Union Alternative Protein.

Shrimp giant launches plant-based alternative in Thailand

One of the world’s leading shrimp suppliers, Thai Union, has launched a plant-based shrimp product throughout Thailand.

Amod Salgaonkar
Published Modified

The seafood heavyweight, which owns brands including John West and Chicken of the Sea, added plant-based-shrimp dumpling to its portfolio of ‘alternative seafood’ that includes plant-based tuna, crab meat, fish nuggets and crab dumplings.

The launch of the plant-based-shrimp dumpling may usher in a new era for the alternative seafood ecosystem, as Thai Union is an expert in the shrimp business and brings a huge amount of sector knowledge.

Thai Union’s Global Innovation Centre, which is supported by Thai universities and Norwegian food research institute Nofima, led development of the plant-based shrimp which the company says is a healthy alternative seafood with 0 mg cholesterol.

Covering the options

As well as developing plant-based seafood, Thai Union has collaborated with California based BlueNalu to explore the cell-based seafood segment and in July 2021 it announced that its Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) Fund had taken part in a Series B fundraising round by Israeli cell-based meat company Aleph Farms.

In January this year Thai Union launched its plant-based tuna at around 375 stores in Europe.

Alternative seafood companies in Asia have raised more than US $31 million in the first six months of 2022, despite a global economic slowdown.

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