After the meat, the fish. It took nine months of work at the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne to produce the recipe for “Sensational Vuna”, its alternative to tuna made from six plants, including pea protein, gluten and rapeseed oil.
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According to the Swiss firm, its product looks like two drops of water like tuna of animal origin, both in taste and texture and in appearance. “ It looks like tuna, it tastes like tuna and yet it does not contain tuna, ” says Nestlé. “ It is available packaged in glass in the cool department and is ready to eat upon purchase, ” the company says.
With the marketing of this new product, Nestlé is further expanding its Garden Gourmet range which includes all products including various meat substitutes (hamburgers, sausages, bites, mince) and other vegetarian products such as lentil or spinach pancakes. . " With the launch of a vegan alternative to conventional tuna, Nestlé is entering the market for alternatives to plant-based fish and expanding its portfolio of constantly evolving plant-based meat alternatives, " explains the company.
When announcing annual results in February, Nestlé indicated that the group's plant supply had reached 200 million Swiss francs (around 186 million euros) in 2019. Since then, the category has experienced strong growth of 40 % during the first half of 2020.
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For the moment the “ Sensational Vuna ” is exclusively available in the Swiss stores of the cooperative society Coop. However, the product should be quickly marketed in Europe and the United States and even in China, since Nestlé announced earlier this year the construction of a plant-based food production plant in Tianjin to meet demand. growing in the Middle Kingdom.
