How Hooked Foods created vegan salmon

Today, overfishing causes severe harm to ocean ecosystems. At the same time, fish is both tasty and healthy, and here in Scandinavia, we eat large quantities every year. Two varieties of fish are the most popular, namely tuna and salmon. 

To enable more people to eat more seafood without harming the oceans, the entrepreneurs Tom Johansson and Emil Wasteson founded Hooked Foods AB in 2019. The aim was to develop plant-based alternatives to seafood, and since salmon is a major seller, it was one of the first products the company wanted to develop. 

“However, salmon is a difficult product to mimic,” explains Peter Liu, technical director and the third founder of Hooked Foods. 

When a lack of competition is a problem 

Since it is so difficult, there were no good products on the market, and while this was positive in terms of competition, it also made development more of a challenge because there was no one to learn from. And turning to contract manufacturers was not an option. 

“We didn’t just want to be a reseller, we wanted to learn how to develop this ourselves,” Liu explains. 

At the same time, the company was a small startup with no possibility of investing in its own infrastructure, neither the extruder nor the lab equipment that would be necessary. 

“We realised that we needed a partner with all the necessary equipment, but that also had expert knowledge in everything from chemical processes through taste to texture so that we could learn and exchange experiences.” 

RISE pilot plant enabled development 

After weighing up their options, they chose RISE. 

“They had everything we needed, and they were completely independent with no interest in acquiring shares in the product we were developing. We’d own all the results ourselves, and that was extremely important to us.” 

For almost two-and-a-half years, Liu and his colleagues spent time every week with the experts at RISE, testing one recipe after another.  

“We’re experts in extrusion, and we also have a complete pilot plant where we can help companies both large and small test different recipes and products,” explains Sophia Wassén, a researcher and expert in extrusion at RISE. 

“For Hooked Foods, we’ve suggested various proteins and recipes, and together we’ve tested them, modified them, then tested them again. Put simply, we’ve acted as their combined lab and sounding board.” 

From the RISE lab out into the world 

Finally, they managed to achieve their goal together. Since autumn 2022, the Hooked Foods product Salmoonish has been on the market in both Sweden and Iceland and will soon be available in the rest of Scandinavia as well. In 2023, they will enter the German and UK markets, but Liu makes clear that none of this would have happened, and certainly not so quickly, without their partnership with RISE. 

“RISE has helped us all the way, from brainstorming at the beginning to finding the right ingredients and the right ratios. And we’ve also been able to use their equipment. Without their help, we never would’ve been able to achieve this!”