Fishway
- Type
- Technology Company
- Location
- Leuven, Belgium
- Industries
- Alternative proteins, Food ingredients & products, Food safety & quality
- Domains
- Fish, Animal based primary products, Seafood, Ingredients, Proteins
About Fishway
Fishway is a Belgian food-tech company developing cultivated fish: biomass of fish cells designed to deliver a nutritional value equivalent to traditional fish fillet. The company positions this as a healthier and more sustainable seafood alternative, aimed at helping address overfishing, habitat destruction, and the growing gap between global fish supply and demand.
Its work sits at the intersection of cell culture, bioprocessing, and food innovation. Fishway says it focuses on high-value fish cell lines, optimized growth media, and a robust production process for the cultivated seafood sector, with an emphasis on health, safety, and consistent quality.
Core Values
- Health and safety: Fishway emphasizes cleaner seafood by avoiding risks associated with heavy metals, microplastics, and chemical contaminants that can be present in traditional fish sources.
- Sustainability: The company frames cultivated fish as a way to reduce pressure on wild stocks, support marine conservation, and lower environmental impacts linked to conventional seafood production.
- Food security: Fishway highlights the need for alternative seafood production to help close the projected future supply-demand gap and support reliable nutrition for future generations.
- Animal welfare: The company explicitly says it places animal welfare at the forefront of its approach to seafood innovation.
Unique Aspects
- Cultivated fish focus: Fishway is not a conventional seafood processor or aquaculture farm; it is developing fish-cell biomass as a new category of seafood ingredient.
- Bioreactor-based production: The company describes a process that grows fish cells in bioreactors close to room temperature, then harvests the biomass for food use.
- Integrated scientific team: Fishway highlights a team with more than 10 years of close collaboration and expertise spanning stem-cell research, bioprocess development, medium development, and biotech commercialization.
- Belgian base with food-tech positioning: The company is based in Heverlee, Belgium, and presents itself as a food-tech innovator working to transform the seafood system worldwide.