New School Foods expands proprietary manufacturing tech beyond seafood with NS/TX Launch

Toronto-based New School Foods has announced the launch of NS/TX Industries Inc, a new entity created to scale its patented scaffolding technology beyond seafood into a broader universe of whole-cut plant-based meats. The move marks a significant expansion for the company, which made headlines with its ultra-realistic plant-based salmon filet that cooks and flakes like conventional fish.

NS/TX will serve as the new umbrella for New School Foods’ manufacturing platform, consumer brand, and R&D capabilities. The firm’s proprietary directional freezing process – the first to be commercialized at scale – allows for the creation of whole-cut plant-based meats with integrated muscle fibers and connective tissue, resulting in textures and behaviors that more closely mimic real meat than conventional extrusion-based products.

“We have spent the last year scaling up our manufacturing process into an assembly line that can create all of these products,” said Chris Bryson, Founder & CEO of New School Foods. “Our scaffolding technology has proven to be more flexible than we imagined, and shown that it can be a superior manufacturing alternative to extrusion for red meat as well as seafood applications.”

The new NS/TX entity formalizes a multi-pronged business model. New School Foods will remain the consumer-facing brand, currently offering its flagship salmon filet and newly launched plant-based salmon burger in restaurants across Canada. NS/TX R&D will collaborate with other companies to co-develop new products, while NS/TX Manufacturing will eventually allow outside brands to produce private-label or co-branded products using the company’s technology.

The flexibility of NS/TX’s platform is a key selling point. The scaffolds can be made in any shape or size, and can even be embedded with plant-based “bones” for products like steak or ribs. Texture can be tailored by adjusting muscle fiber dimensions, while the appearance, flavor and mouthfeel can be manipulated by altering the structure and composition of connective tissue. Multi-layered scaffolds can also be infused with oils, proteins, flavors, and natural colors.

This level of control allows NS/TX to deliver a 'raw-to-cooked' experience – where the product transforms in the pan – a capability that has eluded most conventional alt-protein technologies to date.

Importantly, Bryson noted that the decision to open the platform to other food brands is about impact as well as scale. “We decided that we don’t want to reserve this technology for a single brand. The creation of NS/TX allows us to partner with other brands to develop and manufacture the next generation of alternative protein products.”

In scaling up the platform over the past year, the company also discovered efficiencies reminiscent of traditional meat production. Offcuts from shaping its whole-cut fillets are now being used to produce ground and flaked products, reducing waste and expanding product offerings.

The launch of NS/TX follows a series of milestones for New School Foods. The company’s salmon filet is now available at more than 30 restaurants across Canada through partnerships with Bondi Produce and Gordon Food Service (GFS). It also recently completed its vertically integrated V1 production line.

Backed by more than US$19 million in funding from investors and partners including Inter IKEA, Protein Industries Canada, and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), NS/TX is positioning itself not just as a food brand, but as a technology and manufacturing platform for the next wave of plant-based innovation.

With its cold-based scaffolding system now proven for both seafood and red meat, the company aims to enable a wider range of companies to bring hyper-realistic whole-cut alternatives to market – without needing to build production infrastructure from scratch.