B.C.-based Cascadia Seaweed adds four seaweed species to Health Canada’s Ingredient Database

Cascadia Seaweed has added Saccharina Latissima (Sugar Kelp), Alaria marginata (Winged kelp), Neoagarum fimbriatum, and Develarea mollis (Red Ribbon or Pacific Dulse). “Seaweed is an extremely valuable nutritional, nutraceutical and a pharmacological resource. It contains an array of components that are essential in the promotion and maintenance of optimal human health. Not only that, it has a well-established role in the prevention and the management of chronic diseases, including cancer. Seaweed is not yesterday’s kale, it is much more than that” says Dr. Steve Marin, technical advisor to Cascadia Seaweed.

Before a natural health care product can be sold in Canada, the product must have a license and an eight-digit Natural Product Number (NPN) to display on the product packaging. Prior to applying for an NPN, manufacturers must ensure all of their sourced ingredients are listed in Health Canada’s Ingredient Database. This process ensures Canadians have access to a wide range of natural health care products made with ingredients that are healthy, safe, effective and of a high-quality.

“We are thrilled that four of the species we are cultivating have successfully been added to Health Canada’s Ingredient Database. This is a tremendous milestone for us in terms of bringing seaweed-based nutraceutical products to the market that will help enhance personal health and well-being” says Desiree Dupuis, VP Sales & Marketing at Cascadia Seaweed.
As for what those “nutritious and delicious” nutraceutical products are, Dupuis said they are still top secret, but she did indicate that they will be released at a large-scale virtual event on Thursday, May 20th during Seaweed Days — a festival being organized by Cascadia Seaweed to help expand North American consumers’ acceptance of seaweed as a food product.

Cascadia Seaweed is growing to be the largest North American provider of ocean cultivated seaweed — a climate-positive crop with a variety of uses requiring only the sea and sunlight to grow. While launching the consumer packaged food products continues to be the forward-facing focus for Cascadia Seaweed, behind the scenes they are working diligently to secure more tenures and get farms in the water, as new high-value opportunities for seaweed are on the horizon.