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They’re really in uncharted waters.
The coastal country of Indonesia is milking its abundance of fish to compensate for a drastic cow shortage for programs like school lunches.
As local fishermen off the shores of the city of Indramayu haul loads of ponyfish, they are sent twice a day to a factory to be deboned and ground into a fine, white, protein-filled powder.
Later, the milk of the sea is brought to another facility for a sugary flavor of either strawberry or chocolate, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Fittingly, the powder simply needs water added.
“It just tastes like normal milk, at least to me,” said manager Mafatihul Khoiri of milk maker Berikan Protein Initiative, which began distribution last year.
Local media reports have cast on the fishy topic as it is being mulled over for the Southeast Asian nation’s school lunch programs in the new year. It is touted there as a good source of protein, and experts hope that fish milk could net a $4.5 billion industry that puts 200,000 people to work, according to the Journal.
The unorthodox idea of incorporating fish nutrients into everyday life isn’t anything unique to the area, which is looking for answers on combatting cow shortages.
Fish collagen is a typical protein used in the United States for skin care, and the European Union employed scientists to work out a way of removing chemicals that cause salmon protein powder’s pungent, marine smell last year.
Rasmus Ree, a researcher with the EU-funded research institute Norce, said what Indonesia is fishing for “is something that would be useful, and hopefully economically viable.”
Drinkers of the milk also have not expressed an intolerance for its taste. A 23-year-old named Rosaedah even proclaimed it “delicious!” after having the beverage on three occasions.
However, some nutrition experts are sour on the concept for reasons related to ultra-processing as it is mixed with sugar and artificial sweetening. Locally, the Jakarta Post also called fish milk “more of a political distraction than a meaningful nutritional intervention.”
Even Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin believes there are other ways to manage the bovine scarcity.
“We can grow cows … Or we can import the milk from Australia. Or we can buy an Australian cow company or milk company,” he told the Journal.
“There are many, many, many options to do before we are milking the fish,” he said.
