Seaweed is a cultivated crop being explored as a sustainable food and ecosystem service provider. With increasing interest in domestic seaweed production, there is a need to identify new and economically viable markets. Given the nutritional benefits of seaweed, the food market is a desirable outlet for potential producers.
Getting seaweed to market as food requires processing and value added production in compliance with existing food safety regulations. Seaweed, on the federal level, is currently categorized as a raw agricultural commodity and in its processed form falls under the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Preventive Controls (FSMA PC) for Human Foods rule. Since most facilities in the US are small-scale and meet the definition of a qualified facility, they are exempt from some aspects of the FSMA PC rule. These facilities must then abide by state requirements for processing seaweeds, and some states are turning to the seafood HACCP rule to regulate them. Harvest and marketing of raw materials are currently unregulated at the federal level, thereby falling to states to determine production and marketing requirements for raw materials.
Since 2022, NY Sea Grant, in collaboration with CT Sea Grant and the National Sea Grant Law Center, has coordinated a group of food safety professionals from across the country and internationally to discuss seaweed food safety and regulations, to provide clarity and guidance on how to safely and effectively bring seaweed to market as food. This workgroup identified four major needs which may support the viable commercial expansion of this new industry. The first was to develop guidance to clarify the regulatory framework surrounding seaweeds. The newly developed regulatory guide describes the similarities and differences between two regulations (FSMA PC and Seafood HACCP) that have been applied to the sale of seaweed as foods on the federal and state levels. It provides guidance on how those operating under the HACCP system at the state level could transition into FSMA PC compliance as they expand their operations and no longer meet the definition of a qualified facility or farm. Future efforts will focus on developing additional resources and exploring the best approach to developing training to support this emerging industry.