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Three workers wearing protective gear in a processing plant sorting mussels on a conveyor belt. Humans are used for processing delicate bivalve meat

A yet2 client is seeking technologies for processing delicate bivalve meat such as mussels, clams, oysters, and scallops including the extraction of the raw meat and creation of new food products using this meat with mass consumer appeal whilst maintaining the nutritional profile. This could include manipulating the appearance, texture and/or flavor to improve consumer liking &/or using the meat in place of other proteins such as beef, chicken, or fish.

Technologies to address the following three areas are of particular interest:

  • Extraction of raw bivalve meat from shells.
  • Processing delicate meat for use in products e.g. restructuring or forming technologies that could be adapted for bivalve products.
  • New products made from bivalve meat or constituents.

Background

Bivalves are a large class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have a hard shell consisting of two parts connected by a hinge containing soft meat inside. They are very nutritious and have the potential to be farmed in large quantities with little impact on the environment.  They contain essential nutrients such as omega 3 fatty acids and have a low carbon footprint.  Although already widely consumed, they could become an even more important source of nutrients for future generations.

Constraints

  • Solutions must preserve as many of the nutrients as possible.
  • Solutions should be scalable to an industrial level.
  • Solutions will process raw &/or cooked bivalve meat. Use of intact bivalves as an ingredient in a traditional recipe is not of interest.
  • Farming and harvesting of bivalves are not of interest.

Possible Solution Areas

  • Technologies used to extract bivalve meat from the shells, without cooking the meat.
  • Food processing technologies used to process other delicate animal, seafood, or shellfish meat.
  • Technologies used to process and create products from other novel forms of protein e.g., insects.
  • Novel products created from bivalve or other delicate meats.

Desired Outcome of the Solution

Open to testing and co-development of solutions.


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