Seaweeds as a “Palatable” Challenge between Innovation and Sustainability: A Systematic Review of Food Safety

Abstract

Moderate or severe food insecurity affect 2 billion people worldwide. The four pillars of food security (availability, access, use and stability) are in danger due to the impact of climatic and anthropogenic factors which impact on the food system. Novel foods, like seaweeds, have the potential to increase food yields so that to contribute in preventing or avoiding future global food shortages. The purpose of this systematic review was to assess microbiological, chemical, physical, and allergenic risks associated with seaweed consumption. Four research strings have been used to search for these risks. Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines were applied. Finally, 39 articles met the selected criteria. No significant hazards for microbiological, allergenic, and physical risks were detected. Regarding chemical risk, algae can accumulate various heavy metals, especially when harvested in polluted sites. Cultivating seaweeds in a controlled environment allows to avoid this risk. Periodic checks will be necessary on the finished products to monitor heavy metals levels. Since the consumption of algae seems to be on the rise everywhere, it seems to be urgent that food control authorities establish the safety levels to which eating algae does not represent any risk for human health.

Assessment of Food Quality and Safety of Cultivated Macroalgae

“…Seaweed food safety in terms of iodine and heavy metals content, allergenicity, microbiology, etc. has been reviewed previously [ 8 , 9 ]. A comprehensive review on food safety focussing entirely on the microbiological factors was provided by Løvdal et al [ 10 ].…”

How Healthy Are Non-Traditional Dietary Proteins? The Effect of Diverse Protein Foods on Biomarkers of Human Health

“…A range of considerations can be implemented to ensure that the heavy metal and mineral content of algae and algae containing foods remain in the safe range. These include the choice of algae strain and species, the harvesting/growing of algae in a controlled environment, the establishment of quality control regulations to ensure consumer safety, and/or putting limits on the quantity of algae inclusion in food products so that daily intake limits are not exceeded [ 13 , 14 ]. Additionally, processing technologies can be implemented to remove unwanted contaminants in the production of algal extracts [ 15 ].…”

Report of the expert meeting on food safety for seaweed – Current status and future perspectives

“…Given the combined challenge to food production and utilization of a projected population increase to 9.8 billion by 2050 (UN, 2017) and climate change, the need for sustainable primary food production is being emphasized. The exploration of an increased use of seaweed as food has therefore been suggested by various studies (Ginneken and d'Vries, 2015;Radulovich et al, 2015;Forster and Radulovich, 2015;Brummett et al, 2016;Banach et al, 2020a;Cavallo et al, 2021). Critical to this process is a thorough evaluation of the food safety implications of (increased) seaweed production, processing and consumption.…”

“…Several chemical, microbiological and physical hazards have been detected in, or are potentially associated with, seaweed (EFSA, 2019;Cavallo et al, 2021). A simplified overview of potential hazards in seaweed is given in Figure 5.…”