The Functional Seafood Opportunity

For farmed animals these highly digestible ingredients help to support growth and to develop an optimal immune system. For humans, fish oils have traditionally been used in food and capsules to deliver a daily recommended intake of fatty acids and trace elements. More recently, we can look at a wider opportunity for using seafood as an ingredient and its application to the world of Functional food and drink.

The functional market as a whole is forecast to be worth over €250billion by 2023, it is expected to grow in all regions in this time and is broadly relevant across all of our export categories. Few foods are as well positioned as Seafood to capitalise on the functional food opportunity.

An Irish company that are already specialising in Protein Hydrolysate is Bio-Marine Ingredients Ireland (BII). They have built one of the most advanced bio-refinerys in the world and the only one in Europe, through which they process their wild caught and MSC approved raw material. One of their core products is a Fish Protein Hydrolysate powder that can be used for human nutrition in functional foods and nutraceuticals.

Protein Hydrolysate is absorbed by the body faster than whey protein and it can increase the rate of muscle building more than regular proteins and reduces recovery time. Not only delivering functional benefits for performance and movement, it has a role to play in gut health, offering anti-inflammatory benefits for people suffering from IBS and bowel disorders.

Driven by an evolving health agenda, consumers are increasingly taking a proactive approach to their health, looking to protect both their physical and mental wellbeing through natural sources. As a result, consumers are moving away from pills, tablets and powders and instead looking for foods and drinks to deliver health enhancing ingredients.  Health promoting, disease preventing and illness managing are the core benefits of functional food and drink.

Weight management, digestive health and energising boosting claims make up the majority of the market, however as a greater number of health and wellness issues impact modern society, there are other opportunities with other functional claims. The current Covid-19 pandemic highlights this as consumers move towards preventive health management, looking to build up their immune system and protect the body from threat. We have seen functional seafood products from around the world that tap into this Immunity need, leveraging Seafood nutrients such as Vit A, B Vitamins, Selenium, C0Q10 and Zinc.

Whilst BII are an example of a specialised company at the forefront of functional marine ingredients, there are many other ways to tap into the functional opportunity through innovation and NPD. They do illustrate the means through which Irish food and drink entrepreneurs are driving value and opportunity through understanding the emerging consumer needs and merging advanced science with Ireland’s abundant natural resources to service those needs.