Food technology start-up Hailia and fish processing company Hätälä are partnering to turn Norwegian salmon side streams into food products for the foodservice sector. The collaboration aims to improve sustainability in the fish processing industry as demand for diversified protein sources, such as seafood, grows. 

Hailia’s tech turns leftover fish parts after fileting—including fins, heads and frames—into easy-to-use raw material. This could allow the seafood industry to operate at a larger profit margin in light of its current struggles with declining quotas and increasing environmental compliances.

“With Hailia’s innovative technology, a bigger part of the fish can be used to create nutritious, high-quality seafood. Sustainability guides our operations at Hätälä and we want to promote sustainable development in the entire aquaculture industry.”

“As a fourth-generation family-owned company, we cherish our traditions, but at the same time, we welcome new circular solutions and resource-wise processes,” says Veikko Leinonen, CEO of Hätälä.

Tapping side streams for sustainability

Hailia says its technology lends a mouthfeel similar to cooked fish filet, and the derived products can be used in pasta sauces, salads or sandwiches without extra treatment. The Finnish start-up shifted focus from utilizing leftovers from small pelagics last year to commercializing its proprietary technology for the salmon and whitefish industry.

“Versatile, high-quality and affordable seafood is interesting to consumers as well as the restaurant and foodservice industry. Due to their structure, the salmon products made from side streams are suitable for many different kinds of foods. They are also ready to use, which makes them attractive to constantly busy restaurant kitchens,” says Petri Tiikkala, sales manager at Hätälä.

Hätälä manufactures fish products for retail, wholesale and foodservice industries. In addition to Finnish markets, the company operates in Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and the UK. The company has introduced sensor technology to reduce its operations’ water and energy footprint.

Upcycling sidestreams from food production into new food-grade ingredients is gaining industry support and consumer interest as the need for circular food systems becomes more apparent. According to agro-food center Foodvalley, one-third of food produced every year—1.3 billion metric tons—is lost or wasted.

“Sustainability has become more and more important in the industry, and we are actively negotiating with foreign fish processing companies about the licensing of our technology,” says Michaela Lindström, CEO of Hailia.

In a similar project, researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) collaborated with 13 partners from Belgium, Denmark, France, Spain and Sweden under a similar project to develop techniques and technology to turn often discarded fish parts, including the head, tail and entrails, which remain on the carcass into valuable products and ingredients.