Seaweed Enterprise to create a large seaweed processing facility; Sea & Flour awarded a patent for seaweed infusion in bread

SeafoodSource is closely following seaweed innovation by compiling a regular round-up of updates from the sector.

- On 8 August, baking company Sea & Flour announced the incorporation of seaweed into some of its flour and baking products.

The company received a patent for its systems and methods for seaweed processing. The patent pertains to the cold washing, processing, and granulating of seaweed in its high-volume baking.

"Being awarded this patent is recognition of the uniqueness of our approach and the methods we developed and perfected over several years," Sea & Flour Co-Founder and CEO Arlin Wasserman said in a release. "We're making seaweed perform successfully as a key ingredient in food manufacturing, including in everyday products like breads, rolls, and pizza crusts, and we're excited to see this nutritious and sustainable ingredient play a larger role in our diets. Our goal is to help food manufacturers and retailers make products that consumers already love do more for them in terms of nutritional value while also doing more for the planet."

Sea & Flour products include bread, buns, rolls, and pizza dough.

"We've learned from extensive market research that a significant share of American consumers now want to find ways to eat seaweed more often, so we set out to identify a way to make that easy to do by incorporating it into foods that people already eat on a daily basis," Sea & Flour Co-Founder and President Penelope Wasserman said.

- Fife, Scotland-based Seaweed Enterprise announced it has joined forces with Mara Seaweed to develop a large-scale global processing facility to process seaweed. As a catalyst for this project, Seaweed Enterprise has purchased Mara Seaweed, a seaweed company that went into administration in June 2023.

According to the Natural Ingredients Europe, Pete Higgins established Seaweed Enterprise, and the leadership team comprises Mara Seaweed, Arnie Sathiy, and Clare Dean.

"Working in partnership with Scottish seaweed farmers, as well as the large volume for our license to wild harvest granted by the Crown Estate, we are proud to be developing innovative products to the highest standard," Higgins said.

Photo courtesy of Gold33/Shutterstock