Thai Union, a regional seafood giant based in Thailand, has invested US$30 million in building a marine collagen factory at the Samut Sakhon region, just 5 km away from its main tuna processing factory.
Marine collagen, derived from fish leftovers like skin and bones, is a popular alternative to bovine or pig collagen and is often used in nutritional supplements and cosmetics.
Thai Union is a major champion for sustainability with 50% of its fish resources used as frozen seafood, whereas the remainding 50% used as by-products like aqua feed and fish oil. The addition of marine collagen will bring more added value to its by-products as tuna skin collagen could also serve as a good alternative to marine collagen commonly derived from cod. Currently, there is also a fishing quota associated with cod and this could put pressure on the supply chain.
The extraction of marine collagen from tuna skin, marketed as ‘ThalaCol’ is under Thai Union co-product division, Thai Union Ingredients. Presently, Thai Union is the only company extracting marine collagen from tuna whilst most other companies rely on cod for marine collagen.
Currently, Thai Union is also investing in a 3-year R&D plan to drive its ingredients business, which includes exploring new processing techniques for tuna collagen in order to extract optimum concentrations of di- and tri- peptide, believed to offer multiple health benefits such as bone and skin health.
