The emerging seaweed industry in the United States presents novel legal considerations. There is cu rrently little federal guidance on the food safety risks of seaweed in its whole form, leaving states unsure how to proceed with their own laws and regulations. In 2019, the National Sea Grant Law Center (NSGLC), in partnership with Connecticut Sea Grant, rece ived funding from the National Sea Grant College Program to enhance coordination and cooperation among states to build policy consensus as to the preferred approaches for regulating the sale of seaweed in its whole form for food.
While this project is ongoing, the NSGLC has completed the first two phases of the project. In 2020, the NSGLC hosted a webinar series to build a foundational base of knowledge and gather input from a broad range of stakeholders to in form workshop discussions and the project as a whole. The webinars on federal considerations and industry barriers and challenges were advertised widely, recorded, and posted on the NSGLC project page. A third webinar focused on state efforts was by invitation only and not recorded so state regulators could discuss the issues openly and “off the record.”
In March 2021, the NSGLC hosted a virtual workshop over 8 sessions during a two-week time frame. Since only some workshop registrants had participated i n the webinar series, in the weeks before the workshop, the NSGLC hosted a series of informal video “coffee chats” for participants to drop by and discuss different topics the NSGLC was researching, including the federal regulatory framework, state of the science regarding hazards and international models.
32 state regulators representing 11 states participated in at least one session of the March workshop. Participants assisted the NSGLC with the d evelopment of an FDA workflow, developed their own draft state workflows, and brainstormed food safety hazards of concern and possible control methods. The NSGLC has prepared workshop proceedings, which will be available late 2021. On December 8, 2021, the NSGLC will host a workshop to kick-off Phase 2 of the project- developing a guidance document for states.