Sustainable ingredients from cultivated kelp

Background

There is a growing need to produce more food in a sustainable way. SusKelpFood has drawn on key expertise from Nordic (Norway, Denmark and Iceland) research institutions, a major food producer (Orkla Foods Norge) and kelp producers to address innovation in the food sector. SusKelpFood has focused on cultivated kelps as renewable and non-traditional food crops for the provision of safe, nutritious and flavourful ingredients to the food industry.

Main goal

The project’s primary objective is to enable innovative solutions for the sustainable production of safe, nutritious, and flavourful ingredients from cultivated kelps for the Nordic/European food industry.

What we do

The consortium has built upon existing knowledge to overcome the current issues associated with the utilization of kelps (and more generally macroalgae) in large-scale food applications. Relevant post-harvest processes including stabilization methods (e.g. fermentation) and pre-treatments has been tested and selected based on the food safety, nutrient content and sensory properties of the resulting kelp ingredients as well as sustainability aspects related to the process. The quality of produced kelp ingredients from different methods has been analysed based on the chemical characterization of relevant contaminants (with emphasis on the iodine content and presence of allergens) and nutrient content.

A selection of safe and nutritious products has been analyzed for their sensory properties, and flavour-active substances characterized. The consumer perception for kelp-containing food products has been described using both qualitative and quantitative methods, and the development and evaluation of product prototypes. The environmental impacts of new value-chains, based on kelp biomass has been analyzed using Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), and sustainability in a broader perspective including public health, climate and societal aspects has been addressed using RRI principles. The knowledge generated by the consortium identified strengths and weaknesses of kelp ingredients and proposed future-oriented solutions for a broader inclusion of sustainably produced macroalgae in manufactured food products.

The main activities for Nofima in SusKelpFood:

• investigation of past-harvest processing
• food safety evaluation
• food product development including consumer studies

We have focused on processes such as blanching, fermentation, drying, and pulsed electric field processing.

Worth knowing

Contact person

Dagbjørn Skipnes

Senior Scientist
+47 51 84 46 34