Demand for sustainable, nutritious meat alternatives is growing across Europe, and algae offer a promising answer. Within the LOCALITY project, partner Viva Maris has developed an industrial scale-up prototype of a vegan sausage that combines plant-based ingredients with carefully selected algae-derived components. The goal is a sustainable alternative to conventional meat sausages that meets consumer expectations for taste, texture and nutrition.
Choosing the right algae for a meat alternative
Not every alga behaves the same way in food. Building on a detailed assessment of the functional properties of several algal species carried out earlier in the project, the team selected three species for processing tests and formulation trials:
White Chlorella vulgaris has a neutral colour, making it easy to incorporate into food products. It is a source of protein and unsaturated fatty acids and contains vitamin B12, a nutrient that is often lacking in vegan diets.
Spirulina (Limnospira platensis) provides protein and unsaturated fatty acids. It also offers valuable technological functions, including gelling and emulsifying properties as well as water and oil holding capacity.
Sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima) is a brown seaweed that contributes dietary fibre.
Recreating the texture of meat
One of the biggest challenges in developing plant-based meat alternatives is reproducing the way meat gels when it is cooked and cooled. The algal ingredients alone could not fully achieve this behaviour. The team therefore tested different concentrations of algae in combination with polysaccharides and plant proteins acting as hydrocolloids, ingredients that help bind water and create structure.
Every ingredient was chosen to meet the product guidelines defined within LOCALITY, covering affordability, convenience, sensory expectations, and nutritional and health properties. Sensory tests on the final prototypes helped fine-tune the recipe for both scale-up and consumer acceptance.
Ready for industrial production?
Particular attention was paid to maintaining taste, texture, colour, mouthfeel and product stability during scale-up, while ensuring the recipe works with established food processing technologies. Consistently producing the vegan sausage prototypes at a relevant production scale is an important milestone in validating algae as an ingredient for commercial food production.
The prototypes are currently being evaluated for their technological performance, sensory properties, product quality and overall suitability. If the results are positive, they will show that both the recipe and the manufacturing process can be reliably scaled up for larger production volumes and future commercialisation.
Supporting a circular, algae-based food system
This work contributes directly to LOCALITY’s mission of developing circular and sustainable value chains from algae and bringing new, innovative algae-based products to regional and global markets. By turning algae into tasty, nutritious everyday foods, LOCALITY is helping to shape a more sustainable European food system.
Photo credits at VivaMaris
