GreenQueen, giornale che si occupa di alimentazione alternativa e sostenibile, riporta la notizia che una azienda spagnola ha iniziato la produzione di “tonno vegano” per piatti crudi, ad esempio il sushi, usando pomodori semi-disidratati e insaporitori vegetali.

Dopo il lancio in Spagna, l’azienda ha in programma di aprire altri punti vendita e ampliare la gamma dei prodotti.

As well as expanding its distribution, Mimic Seafood wants to develop more seafood alternatives as well. They plan on expanding their range with different types of fish analogues, but they’ll all bear the same clean label qualities…

…  Plant-based seafood is also still very much a white space in the alt-protein industry. While seafood features heavily in European cuisines, especially in Spain and across the Mediterranean, much of the innovation so far has been on beef burgers or sausages.

“That’s why we’re taking our Mediterranean approach to seafood“

Dietro alla nascita e alla capacità di crescita di aziende come questa, ci sarebbe una richiesta sempre maggiore delle versioni vegane dei prodotti derivanti dalla pesca. Tale richiesta sembra andare a braccetto con la diffusione di documentari che hanno a che fare con l’industria alimentare, in particolare Seaspiracy, dagli stessi creatori di Cowspiracy, di cui sempre GreenQueen offre un ritratto.

A proposito di questo documentario, un articolo di ComingSoon mette in fila le principali controversie rilevate da diverse fonti, tra cui The Guardian.

Directed by Ali Tabrizi, a film-maker from Kent, the wide-ranging documentary questions the sustainable seafood movement and looks at the way the Dolphin Safe and Marine Stewardship Council labels may not be able to provide the assurances consumers are looking for.

Representatives of both organisations have accused the film-makers of misleading statements.

An executive with the international organisation responsible for the Dolphin Safe tuna label, Mark Palmer, has said his comments were taken out of context.

In a scene in the film, Palmer, the associate US director of the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP), which is operated by the Earth Island Institute, was asked if his group could guarantee that no dolphins were ever killed in any tuna fishery anywhere in the world.

“I answered there are no guarantees in life but that drastically reducing the number of vessels intentionally chasing and netting dolphins as well as other regulations in place, that the number of dolphins that are killed is very low”, he said.

“The film took my statement out of context to suggest that there is no oversight and we don’t know whether dolphins are being killed. That is not true.”

In response to the film, the IMMP said Seaspiracy “falsely claims” that the Dolphin Safe label is a conspiracy to benefit the global fisheries industries.

David Phillips, the director of the IMMP, said the film had chosen to “grossly distort and mischaracterise” the aims of the label. In a statement, Phillips said: “The Dolphin Safe tuna programme is responsible for the largest decline in dolphin deaths by tuna fishing vessels in history. Dolphin-kill levels have been reduced by more than 95%, preventing the indiscriminate slaughter of more than 100,000 dolphins every year.”

Phillips said Seaspiracy did a disservice to organisations doing “critical work to protect oceans and marine life”.

Immagine via Flickr di Black Zack tramite licenza creative commons.