TMU startup to launch world’s first plant-based salmon
TMU food scientist and researcher Dérick Rousseau, left, examines a plant-based salmon product he helped create with New School Foods, a startup incubated in TMU’s Science Discovery Zone. Founder Chris Bryson, right, says the company’s success is in part thanks to TMU researchers and resources. (Photo: Harry Choi)
New School Foods (external link) startup founder Chris Bryson is on a mission to change the world - and he’s on his way, in part, thanks to key ingredients at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).
Bryson’s company is aiming to revolutionize the food industry - beginning by launching the world’s first plant-based salmon filet – that looks, cooks, tastes and flakes like wild salmon.
To achieve this goal, New School Foods has been incubated in Zone Learning’s Science Discovery Zone (SDZ). There, they’ve had access to state-of-the-art labs and workspaces, innovative technologies and expert researchers - including food science professor Dérick Rousseau, who, along with three team members, perfected the “piece de resistance” of their operation.
That “piece de resistance” is the now patented muscle fibre technology, which is also extensible far beyond salmon or fish – fueling ideas for additional products to come.
If successful, they could have a huge impact not only on food consumption – but the entire planet.
“Our oceans are vastly overfished. Some estimates even say that by 2044 our oceans will be empty,” Bryson said. “It felt like this huge problem that no one was addressing.”
So, he is – and it’s all happening with the support of TMU’s startup incubation program, Zone Learning, which provides opportunities to startups to kickstart projects, work with mentors and experts, and access state-of-the-art workspaces, labs and technologies.
At the SDZ, startups are connected with TMU professors and researchers along with the broader community to help advance their projects.
“TMU and Zone Learning have been a Godsend,” Bryson said, noting that in addition to joining the SDZ, he and his team set up shop in Rousseau’s food and soft materials lab, and Bryson even hired post-doc researcher Auke de Vries from Rousseau’s lab to work full-time for the company.
“Through TMU we’ve gotten access to office space through the Zone, lab space through the Science Discovery Zone, access to talent and sponsored researchers through Dérick’s lab, we’ve also accessed the Design and Technology Lab to create prototypes, and create pieces of machinery that we use in our process. It’s endless, honestly,” Bryson said.
TMU food science professor Dérick Rousseau helped perfect the patented muscle fibre creation process of New School Foods’ plant-based salmon filet. (Photo: Harry Choi)
The pinnacle development is arguably the “scaffolding” technique pioneered by de Vries. In his work with New School Foods, the food scientist perfected a signature production technology which involved recreating the muscle fibres of the fish and enabling it to “flake”.
“Think about when you heat a salmon filet, it starts to break down. When your fork cuts into it, each flake breaks down into tiny muscle fibres, thereby creating the unique sensory experience of fish. We wanted to recreate that structure, and simulate that experience,” Bryson said, pointing out that recreating plant-based burgers or veggie dogs is far less involved.
‘Biggest threat…that no one is talking about’
Bryson’s path to SDZ began when became fascinated by plant-based foods early on in the pandemic.
“I remember saying to myself, ‘You know, why are companies like Impossible Foods trying so hard to recreate the experience of meat, like why not just eat a regular burger?’” he said.
So, he decided to find out.
That’s when he learned about the many negative impacts of factory farming, the ethical implications of meat consumption, and how it affects the climate and the planet.
“It is both terrifying and abhorrent,” he said. “It seemed like the biggest issue that we're facing - both in terms of what we do to other species, and also in that it’s the biggest threat to our own species - that no one is talking about.”
Within the plant-based industry, he chose to explore salmon since competitors were more focused on plant-based products like steak, ground beef, chicken and bacon.
Propelling him further - not only was there an environmental benefit to reducing salmon consumption, there was one to human health: plant-based salmon isn’t pumped full of antibiotics, nor does it consume harmful particles like microplastics and mercury.
“A plant-based alternative wouldn’t put that junk in your body. So, you could eat healthier and make a difference in the planet,” he said.
A key challenge in recreating salmon is simulating the muscle fibres and connective tissue that allow an actual filet to flake. (Courtesy: New School Foods)
Professor is perfect fit
So, Bryson put out a call for proposals to the top food science schools in the world, offering to fund a scientist’s work for a year if, in exchange, they could work on his product.
Among the responses? A message from Rousseau. The expert in food structure was a perfect fit for Bryson’s operation.
“Chris was just a really impressive person,” Rousseau said of their initial conversations. “He has a singular mindset to seek out success. That’s rare.”
After learning more about his quest, Rousseau set up a meeting with Bryson and de Vries.
“Chris explained his ultimate goal, and we admired his vision, his mindset and his drive. We quickly started to come up with some ideas, with all of us contributing components,” Rousseau said, adding, “I had a really good feeling about him.”
Above, the plant-based salmon filet by New School Foods. (Courtesy: New School Foods)
‘Endless’ support
While they’re still tweaking things in the lab, Bryson and his team -- there are now 20 staff on board – are essentially ready to launch. They’ll do so as soon as construction has finished on specialized manufacturing facilities – likely summer 2024.
Their product will first make its debut in restaurants, and from there, they’ll expand, with an ultimate goal to reach price parity with “real” salmon - and eventually, cost even less.
“That’s the only way we’re going to get mass adoption,” Bryson said.
That, and genuine taste.
“We need to make people feel like it’s the real thing and not a tofu compromise. They need to feel they’re getting an upgrade,” he said.
He’s confident that they will - and says it’s just the beginning, with other prototypes underway in their lab at the university.
“And all of it is super scalable,” he said. “There is so much potential with what we can do.”
“TMU offers all this great infrastructure, and from what I understand, we haven't even fully scratched the surface.”
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