New Wave Foods says “we disrupt food, not the oceans,” and they mean it. Their plant-based shrimp supposedly looks, tastes, smells, and feels like the real thing, but without the pesky environmental destruction and ethical quandaries. Bioengineered food has gone mainstream with lab-grown meat and “bleeding” veggie burgers – it’s only logical that seafood would follow suit.

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The meatless shrimp is made from plants and algae and engineered to reproduce a similar texture and taste as a real shrimp. Co-founder and CEO Dominique Barnes told Seeker Stories how their meatless shrimp even have a similar nutrient profile, except New Wave’s product has less fat and no cholesterol.

Related: U.S. shrimp may not be what consumers bargained for

Considering Americans eat the equivalent of four pounds of shrimp per person each year, one has to wonder if the planet can sustain such high demand. The answer is not so much, especially since so many natural mangrove habitats are destroyed for shrimp farming. In fact, there are half as many fish in the ocean as there were in 1970, an incriminating statistic for all seafood industries. A future of bioengineered, plant-based alternatives could be a part of the solution.

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Via Collectively

Images via New Wave Foods, YouTube