TFTAK SWIMS AGAINST THE CURRENT, REINVENTING SALMON THROUGH SUSTAINABILITY
As a privately owned research organisation, TFTAK has built its reputation on developing sustainable, health-supporting food technologies and delivering agile, end-to-end solutions for clients worldwide. With a clear vision to shape the future of food through scalable, real-life applications, the team is dedicated to driving both well-being and sustainability. In this interview, Merli Üle, Innovation Director at TFTAK, talks about their approach, their latest achievements, and how they see the future of food technology unfolding.
Why was SIAL India 2024 an important platform for you?
SIAL is a global innovation marketplace where buyers, retailers, and food-tech partners converge to test new concepts and accelerate commercialisation.
We chose to participate in SIAL India 2024 to meet potential partners and gain insights into the Indian market. The show brought together the right mix of manufacturers and retailers, helping us shift from R&D credibility to commercial conversations in weeks rather than months.
You won the Gold Award for your plant-based salmon. What makes this alternative seafood product unique?
Our product was designed to deliver three things at once — sensory parity (taste, layered texture, mouthfeel), nutritional parity (high protein, omega profile), and commercial viability (a cost-engineered route to retail pricing below Atlantic salmon). With nearly a decade of work in alternative proteins, we had the tools, technologies, and applications to deliver across all three fronts.
What differentiates TFTAK from other plant-based brands on the market?
TFTAK is, first and foremost, a contract research and development organisation with deep food-tech and scale-up expertise. Our research spans bioprocesses, precision fermentation, filamentous fungi, alternative proteins, functional foods, beverages, and the microbiome.
We combine this knowledge with practical manufacturing considerations - supply chain flexibility, cost targets, regulatory readiness - and back it all with an in-house pilot kitchen and state-of-the-art laboratories. Our plant-based salmon was born from a high-pressure innovation challenge, and the Gold Award at SIAL validated our ability to deliver on taste, texture, and nutrition.
Have you seen concrete results since winning (media coverage, new clients, export opportunities)?
Yes. The award significantly boosted our visibility. We’ve seen strong media coverage, inbound enquiries from multiple regions, and we’re now in active discussions with potential partners. We’re grateful to the SIAL organisers for creating a platform where the industry can connect, collaborate, and innovate together.
How have both Indian and international buyers reacted to this innovation?
Feedback has been consistently positive. Taste remains the biggest hurdle for many plant-based alternatives, and solving it has been a key achievement. In India especially, where a large share of the population follows a vegetarian diet, our plant-based salmon gave some people the chance to experience the taste of fish for the first time. With India’s growing need for diverse and affordable protein sources, the product was seen as a timely and welcome solution.
What future developments or new plant-based products are you planning?
TFTAK continues to run multi-project pipelines with customers across seafood, meat analogues and functional ingredients. We have already developed plant-based pork, chicken, beef and salmon analogues in different formats, as well as a wide variety of plant-based dairy alternatives.
Even though the markets are globally maturing, the developments continue. Proprietary development priorities include a hybrid extrusion-fermentation approach to elevate taste and nutrient density in plant concentrates, and modular formulations that let co-manufacturers tailor mouthfeel, protein level and cost to regional needs. In short: more category expansions, faster scale-up paths and B2B product families suitable for private label and branded launches. If these areas overlap with a potential customer’s priorities, we’d be glad to explore opportunities to work together.
Will you participate in SIAL India 2025? If so, can you tell us why?
Together with the Estonian government delegation, we visited India and participated in SIAL 2024, which gave us rapid market intelligence and strong commercial leads.
Going forward, we’ll prioritise events where we see the clearest conversion pathways. Right now, our focus is on accelerating partnerships in markets where we already have traction.