Plant-based foods can be a relatively affordable way to feed yourself, as we discovered ourselves when working on an analysis where we compared the prices of plant-based products to that of meat-based foods.

Bluana Foods specializes in the production of plant-based sashimi, which according to Florin Irimescu, the company's founder, is a product that acts as the pillar for fish-based foods in Japan's cuisine.

We wanted to learn more about Bluana Foods' activity and how the company and how the startup wants to change the way we feed ourselves with a lower footprint on the planet.

From bio-based trout to plant-based alternatives to ocean-fish products

Florin Irimescu is an experienced entrepreneur when it comes to the food industry, being one of those who started the Valeputna project, a startup that became a business over time and is focusing on growing and producing 100% bio-based trout. Valeputna's products represent a success story, as they were awarded multiple times at countless international competitions, such as Great Taste Awards or Superior Taste Awards.

Last year, in 2022, Florin and his team started focusing on Bluana Foods and the idea to develop a healthy and sustainable plant-based alternative to ocean-fish products.

The team at Bluana figured that our oceans need protection from pollution, a well as the fish need protection from a mass-extinction event. The company's vegan sashimi that tastes like tuna or salmon is made 100% from plants, such as potatoes and edamame, while also bringing the nutritional benefits of various vitamins and essential oils.

The need to conserve the oceans comes from the fact that, according to Florin, the planet could be left without any fish for sushi 10 years from now, while by mid-century, all fish from the oceans could be gone.

Why we need plant-based products in the food industry

We talked about this multiple times in the past on Green Start-Up and one of the entrepreneurs whom we've talked to, the co-founder of Wildtype, told us that it is important to protect the various species of fish, as well as their ecosystems.

At the same time, plant-based foods or those made by cultivating animal cells bring benefits to our health, as well, since we can select the healthiest individuals for the production.

Florin's point of view is that the consumption of foods that are an alternative to animal protein present multiple advantages.

"The biggest one is the fact that we leave the fish alone in the ocean, since there are a few issues associated with overfishing. Ocean fishing happens with very large nets that are dragged across the seabed and besides the needed fish, these also catch turtles and sharks, among other creatures", we learned from Florin Irimescu.

He also added that there are some species of fish that are endangered, such as the bluefin tuna, the most expensive of the tuna family, which experts warn could disappear in about a decade.

Generally speaking, sushi-focused species of fish are those who suffer most from overfishing, with salmon also being part of the fish required for making many of the foods found in the Japanese cuisine.

It's not just about the fish reserve being in a freefall, however. Even the fish we have available is of a lower quality than before, as we throw more junk in the planet's large waterways, such as plastic waste and medicine.

"This is a high source of mercury and there have been a number of people who intoxicated themselves by consuming a lot of fish, despite the fact that they believed had a healthy diet", Florin shared with Green Start-Up.

If these issues weren't enough, global warming is making its presence felt, as well. The phenomenon associated with rising temperatures in the oceans causes unbalances across the ecosystems and algae get to places where they didn't belong or their number increases so much that fish are forced to migrate.

The base that creates sustainable alternatives to fish

Generally, every plant-based food that proves to be an alternative to animal protein needs another protein which acts like a replacement that holds everything in place. In the case of Bluana, the potato is the foundation for the fine product, but Florin told us that a human being consumes so much protein that the team decided to rather focus on other things, such as adding vitamins and nutrients, in order to obtain a healthier product.

"We offer what's usually missing from the diet, micronutrients, minerals, essential oils, Omega 3...", Bluana's founder shared with us.

The company's product isn't yet available on the market, since its development is still ongoing, but about 2.000 people already tried it and they had mixed opinions on its properties.

So far, still, plant-based products have been a "version 1" in the industry and were rather an initial shot at the matter, according to Florin. What Bluana aims to bring to the market, on the other hand, is a second and improved version, which can offer the taste, but also texture that's as close to the reference product.

Still, there will be some time before these goals are achieved and besides them, Bluana also needs to make sure that they are shelf-ready, since they'll be spending some time before going in consumer baskets.

Bluana Foods' plans for the rest of 2023

For the rest of 2023, experts at Bluana Foods will work on the technology and the development of the foods that could soon reach restaurants and supermarkets and some testing will take place soon in order to keep the progress going.

Florin firmly believes that plant and cell-based products are the future of the food industry, since the price of animal-based foods will keep going up, as a result of climate change. At the same time, alternative foods will become less expensive and their quality will reach a point where they'll be difficult to differentiate compared to what we've been accustomed with.