While brands are working to make their recipes healthier by not using any additives, by reducing the amount of salt or by reducing the number of ingredients, they will only be successful if they also manage to deliver on expectations of taste.
In the seafood department, the result is far from satisfactory.
In general, manufacturers use different kinds of rice, seaweed and pea agglomerates to try to reproduce a similar texture, but the result is not always convincing.
In Canada, a start-up that recently raised US$12 million in funding has decided to rethink the manufacturing process to produce a salmon fillet that visually resembles the real thing.
The whole point of this innovation is to offer a whole, raw cut that can be cooked or seared like regular salmon.
According to the owner of this Toronto-based company, called New School Foods, the production of this type of alternative usually relies on heat and pressure technology.
But, in the case of this plant-based salmon, the process is completely different, using a freezing technique to form layers to obtain a plant-based product with a texture that flakes just like real salmon.
In terms of ingredients, the recipe uses potato, peas or rapeseed, according to the food industry news site, Fooddive.
Above all, the preparation uses a gel based on hydrocolloids derived from seaweed in order to obtain this lifelike imitation.
These compounds are not new. They are already used in a variety of food and drug formulas to absorb liquids into a gel-like mass.
Chefs in North America will be among the first to be able to cook with and taste this fish-free salmon product in a pilot project. A wider launch could then follow.
This innovation rethinks fish analogues by considering the end product as a whole cut that emulates the look and texture of the real thing, and cooks just like a regular salmon fillet.
It aims to provide an answer to the environmental issues related to overfishing. According to the WWF, salmon consumption has tripled since the 1980s.
Other solutions envisaged include lab-grown salmon presented by Californian start-ups.