What is Ciona?
Beneath the sea surface hides a fantastic resource: Ciona. Using Ciona as food contributes to fulfilling several of the UN's global sustainability goals, including no. 14: "Sea and marine resources" and no. 2: "No hunger".
The raw material of the future. Nordic and natural.
Ciona grows naturally along the Norwegian and Swedish coasts. It is a filtering animal that catches its own food and therefore does not need feeding. We also do not need to add anything else for Ciona to thrive and grow by itself in our cultivation facilities. After about three months in the sea, they are ready for harvest.
To grow, Ciona depends on filtering nutrients from the sea. In nutrient-rich areas, Ciona cultivation can help promote biodiversity and create healthier marine ecosystems. A big advantage is also that we don't have to use land to grow Ciona. There is hardly any arable land left, and therefore, in the future we will have to get much more food from the sea.
In sum, this means that Ciona has an extremely low climate footprint* for a raw material that is used directly in food production.
*An extremely low climate footprint of only 0.22 kg CO2-eq/kg for Purply (Norsus, 2024).
See list of more raw materials and foods at Framtiden.no.
Where does Ciona grow?
Grows naturally along our coastline.
Ciona has "always" grown naturally in Norway and Sweden. Pronofa has established production facilities in Stenungsund (SE) and Hustadvika (NO) on Nordmøre, with several associated marine facilities for cultivating and harvesting the raw material nearby.