Dave Schroeder, Director of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs at Triton Algae Innovations, discusses being the little engine that could and outlasting the economic downturn. Plus, he takes us through the magic of algae at their San Diego plant. Bonus, I do a tasting of their newest products: algae dumplings – tastes like pork! – high-protein pasta and alage chips from their new brand: Too Good To Be. It’s all on this week’s The Plantbased Business Hour with Elysabeth Alfano.
Specifically, we discuss,
- The versatility and functionality of algae.
- Scaling an algae plant and taking the Triton Algae Innovations tour
- The newest products: high-protein pasta and non-pork dumplings and
- The secret to lasting through a financial storm.
Below is a highlight clip and transcription from our long-form conversation:
Elysabeth: Tell me what’s going on at Triton Algae Innovations.
Dave Schroeder: Absolutely. So, Triton Algae Innovations is a San Diego-based startup company that makes a highly nutritious form of algae as a human food ingredient, and we do that in a non-GMO fashion and produce it in precision fermentation. We’ve created a variety of really interesting unique and healthy algae ingredients that are now being incorporated into food products that are now coming out on the market as a commercial-facing product.
(Pilot Plant Tour)
So, coming into here we’re going to see the step which is going to the flask scale where those little strands that you saw in those dishes- this is kind of cool. You can see what they’ve grown up into, which is into a size that can be further assessed by our team for their contents and the molecular structure and that sort of thing.
Miller Tran: So, the reason we shake them is that when you grow cells in fermentation or in a flask, they require air and so that air by shaking is distributed more evenly throughout the culture.
Dave Schroeder: So, you see the different varieties. This one here is practical for applications in the alternative meats and seafoods that we talked about a minute ago. This one has potential applications in the dairy and egg alternative space and then the high protein white version here which has a more neutral color and appearance can easily be assimilated into any number of potential consumer products.
Elysabeth: I’m taking over the mic because I’m going to do the eating. They look very hot. I’m going in, people, for a dumpling. Look at that. Look at that. Mmm, wow look at that. It even looks like pork. See that? Oh my gosh. I would never think that this isn’t meat. It tastes just like pork!
Dave Schroeder: So right now the dumplings are available frozen through GTFOitsvegan.com. So, you can order those online. Right now here in San Diego they’re available at the San Diego Vegan Market. And as we mentioned before, our VP of Sales, Amy Kushner, is in the process of building out a really robust distribution network. We’ve had very positive feedback from those entities up to this time as well so we think by September we’ll be able to brag to you about a number of supermarket chains that you may recognize that are going to be carrying these products. We’re working on it right now. Oh, and I think you mentioned before that the pasta products are currently available on Amazon through our Too Good To Be Foods website.
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