Prospects and challenges for industrial production of seaweed bioactives

Abstract

Large-scale seaweed cultivation has been instrumental in globalizing the seaweed industry since the 1950s. The domestication of seaweed cultivars (begun in the 1940s) ended the reliance on natural cycles of raw material availability for some species, with efforts driven by consumer demands that far exceeded the available supplies. Currently, seaweed cultivation is unrivaled in mariculture with 94% of annual seaweed biomass utilized globally being derived from cultivated sources. In the last decade, research has confirmed seaweeds as rich sources of potentially valuable, health-promoting compounds. Most existing seaweed cultivars and current cultivation techniques have been developed for producing commoditized biomass, and may not necessarily be optimized for the production of valuable bioactive compounds. The future of the seaweed industry will include the development of high value markets for functional foods, cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. Entry into these markets will require a level of standardization, efficacy, and traceability that has not previously been demanded of seaweed products. Both internal concentrations and composition of bioactive compounds can fluctuate seasonally, geographically, bathymetrically, and according to genetic variability even within individual species, especially where life history stages can be important. History shows that successful expansion of seaweed products into new markets requires the cultivation of domesticated seaweed cultivars. Demands of an evolving new industry based upon efficacy and standardization will require the selection of improved cultivars, the domestication of new species, and a refinement of existing cultivation techniques to improve quality control and traceability of products.

Health and Beauty Cosmeceuticals Industry and Market Expansion in Saudi Arabia

“…The need to build brand equity at regional and global level could help to leverage the rise of low cost/ price-focused generic and pave ways to strengthening stakeholders' investment, new products or brands development and establishment in ensuring industry sustainability and productivity [2,5,30,41]. Nevertheless, the extent and nature of cosmeceutics firms also poses specific challenges related to branding versus corporate branding management, local regulation, product patent and clearance, consumer target to marketing niche on case by case basis [25,28,31,47]. The benefits of advancing beauty and care continue to dominate the scenery and boost the good value-based services and performance.…”

“…It is anticipated that the global cosmeceutical market will hit USD $61 billion by 2020 majorly driven par consumers desired maintain the skin/body care, beauty and resolve the imperfections and anti-ageing [1,29,30,31]. Personal care and beauty industries have the ability to improve Saudi import and export transactions and market (e.g., Banaja Saudi Import Company, Spimaco, Tabuk Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Manufacturing and Al-Jazeera Pharmaceutical Industries), population income growth, employment and increasing the appetites for quality healthcare and hygiene under the regulation, supervision and coordination Saudi Food and drug Authority (SDFA) and other government stakeholders agencies [6,8,24,25,32,39,40]. The prediction showed that new ingredients will continue to be developed in this sector locally from plant, animal and marine sources [1,2,27,33,41].…”

“…It is clear that as the Kingdom market-driven transition model will continue to grow, leveraging on local and regional cosmetics manufacturing resources [5,8,18,23,25,43]. With the increasing public spending on healthcare as CAGR rise from 13.5% to 17.3% in 2009 and 2012, expansion of new brand and generics acquisitions and capacity need to be scale up significantly with related support from India and China pharmaceuticals competiveness in generic price of these products [24,27,30,51].…”

“…There are various formulation depending on the firms and the consumers' needs and varied from (skincare, hair-care, tooth whiteners, injectable, lipcare), chemical (antioxidants, sunscreens, acids, enzymes or hormones and botanical) to organic/biological or bio-products (Table 1). These products can use for specified purposes in beauty and personal care, with diverse mechanisms of action including 1) increasing exfoliation or normalization of cellular repair or response, 2) receptor activation and photoprotection, 3) skin barrier enhancement, 4) cellular messenger communication and provision, 5) up or down regulation and modulation of pigmentation and anti-ageing or anti-acne [20][21][22][23][24][25]. Furthermore, their applications have been showed with less scientific rationale to be beneficial and yet some still have documented scientific proof or rationale.…”

Submerged Kelp Detection with Hyperspectral Data

“…Kelps belong to the brown algae of the order Laminariales and form submerged forests of macroalgae. They are one of the key structures in worldwide coastal ecosystems and of great importance for ecosystem functions, aquaculture and food industries [2,3]. Kelp is relevant in determining patterns of abundance and food supply for fish and invertebrates [4].…”