Developing Atlantic Seafood Alternatives From Seaweeds Within NI Through Sustainable Reverse Engineering Techniques Following Post Covid-19 Trends

Two of the burning issues of our time are how to reduce CO2 emissions and sustainably feed the forecasted 10 billion population by 2050 and the current model of producing just won't work moving forward. We at Born Maverick aim to redefine food innovation by exploring newer sources within eco system by developing sustainable food solutions within UK. We are willing to get into the roots of what causes overall disruption of supply chains and provide sustainable solutions. The over-exploitation of particular species needs to be stopped and we need solutions which would help maintain ecological balance in the system. Hence we have started to target species which are underutilised as compared to their natural production and turn them into our favourite edible products where consumers don't have to compromise on overall taste, texture and compatibility while being kind on nature and species besides being able to stay healthy in an ethical way. We have already developed unique plant-based milk, multi nutritional blend and uniquely fortified popsicles and this project is our further attempt to contribute towards creating a sustainable model post COVID-19\.

Seaweed is naturally available within NI in abundance and is sustainably harvested through local farms. This is a least explored source of sea food when it comes to developing unique seafood alternatives despite the fact it carries immense nutrients and health benefits which could be used to form both edible and ethical food structure. Given the implications of Post-COVID-19 and rising trend of plant based diets has made it a basic necessity to develop food supply chain system within close proximity which would help us sustain and provide high quality locally sourced food to consumers in a continual way even during disrupting times and to generate exports of high quality innovative food in long term. There is an ever-growing appetite for seafood alternatives but the lack of innovation in this field as compared to milk and meat alternatives has hindered the rise of this particular segment when compared to the overall growth of plant-based products. The seafood alternatives currently present within the market are a random combination of soy, pea, rice and other grains formed in a shape of shrimp which questions the sustainable choice of consumer shifting to plant-based diet from actual seafood in long term. Our project aims in overcoming these shortcomings by providing solutions through reverse engineering technology and in a scientific way.

In this project we aim to identify potential variety of edible sea weeds within NI which have nutritional configuration similar to prawns through reverse engineering methods and then constructing taste, texture and compatibility similar to prawns found in the oceans around UK. We would then identify process to optimise the upscaling of these products through sustainable packaging and shelf life development in order to deliver a final finished product. This would all be delivered over a time frame of six months by collaborating with the expertise within food research organisations which will be strategically contributing towards different phases of project.