In Chicago, AQUA Cultured Foods has partnered with Ginkgo Bioworks to optimize production of alternative seafood. Specifically, the two companies will jointly optimize AQUA Cultured Foods’ fermentation technology and advance the development and production of AQUA’s 100% fish-free products that emulate the look, feel, and taste of fresh-caught seafood.
Leveraging Ginkgo’s microbial characterization and analytics, along with AQUA’s proprietary strains and processes, the partners aim to transform the future of alt-seafood production. “With Ginkgo’s expertise in working with microbes, we are confident in optimizing and applying our technology to create the most delicious seafood products possible,” Stefan Baier, PhD, CSO of AQUA Cultured Foods, said in a press statement. “Beyond sequencing, we envision engineering our proprietary consortium for next-gen products, pushing alt-seafood boundaries with unique textures and building the nutrition beyond a good source of fiber.”
AQUA’s debut offerings are tuna and scallops.