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Victorian seaweed could catch the global market

Marine biologist, Dr Alecia Bellgrove from Deakin University in Melbourne believes that South West Victoria could become a leading producer of seaweed.

According to Bellgrove, the pristine waters of South-Western Victoria offer the greatest diversity of seaweed species in the world, providing a prime opportunity for exports as traditional harvesting nations such as Japan have been affected by both natural and nuclear disasters.

Taste tests on the locally harvested fare will be conducted in Warnambool from August 9 and will compared to Asian-grown seaweed in blind trials as reported by the Geelong Advertiser.

Should the taste, texture and nutritional value of the seaweed be comparable to its Asian competitors, Dr Bellgrove believes that Victoria could be in good stead to become a leading global seaweed producer.

“Much of the Australian population is iodine and zinc deficient and that comes back to the fact that our soils are poor in those two elements and therefore our ground vegetable sources are also low in them," Dr Bellgrove said.

"However, our oceans are rich in minerals and therefore seaweed, which is basically a sea vegetable, is high in a whole range of important trace minerals and vitamins. Another environmental benefit is that they are plants and, like trees drawing down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, there's a lot of evidence suggesting farming seaweeds in the ocean can be really important for decreasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as part of a climate change solution."

Bellgrove believes that the application of seaweed need not be restricted to traditional Japanese dishes, stating that seaweed can be included in a variety of Western foods such as pastas and biscuits.

 

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