• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Fishing the seas for new vegan ideas

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
February 22, 2021
in Science News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

‘Blue sky’ for more healthy foods from seaweeds

IMAGE

Credit: Photo courtesy Raymond Tham, CMBD Flinders University.

Putting innovative Australian marine bioproducts into tasty vegan food ideas is the goal of a new project at the Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development, Flinders University.

“In South Australia, we’ve worked with the Australian Kelp Products for over a decade, developing new products and processes to put beach-cast seaweeds into value-added commodities,” says CMBD director Professor Wei Zhang, director, who is also Leader / Research Director of the Marine Bioproducts CRC (MB-CRC) Bid.
Now the innovative partnership is eyeing the booming vegan market for organic, eco-friendly nutritional goods to produce new seaweed-derived ingredients and functional food products.

While countries such as Japan, China and South Korea dominate the market for edible whole seaweeds, Western consumers are becoming increasingly fond of seaweed food products.

“Southern Australian waters host one of the highest diversities of macroalgae (seaweeds) in the world,” Professor Zhang says, pointing to abundant species such as brown algae in the genera Ecklonia, Durvillaea, Macrocystis and Sargassum, and green algae including Ulva spp. (sea lettuce), Monostroma spp. and Caulerpa spp. (seagrapes), used to enrich soups, salads and other culinary treats around the world.

With macroalgal preparations and extracts now a common sight in health-food stores and pharmacies, Professor Zhang says their bioactive compounds can have strong antioxidant effects and contain essential vitamins and minerals such as iodine, vitamin K, B vitamins, iron, and zinc which can promote gut, skin and brain health.

The new Flinders University Innovation Partnership Seed grant-funded project with Australian Kelp Products Pty Ltd (AKP) seeks to adapt the active compounds of local seaweeds into booming industry pathway of healthy function foods for vegan and organic food consumers.

The global vegan market has been forecast to rise from $US12.69 billion in 2018 to $US22 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.6% built on rising awareness of the benefits of following a vegan diet.

Australia’s vast shoreline and pristine waters hold a myriad of untapped, renewable bioresources an opportunities to enter the international marine bioproducts market estimated to be worth more than $175 billion a year.

Founded at Beachport on South Australia’s Limestone Coast region in 1994, AKP holds the only seaweed sustainable development licence in mainland Australia. The company produces organic fertiliser and cattle feed via a system able to expand into higher value materials for foodstuffs, industrial and medical products.

The company’s Chief Executive Mr Leo Lin says the project aims to provide AKP with the scientific expertise needed to attract investors and other partners, to produce the eco- and vegan-friendly seaweed functional foods and ingredients for both domestic and global markets.

The Marine Bioproducts CRC Bid aims to develop the third generation of Australian high-value marine bioindustry, building on the first generation of fisheries and the second generation of aquaculture. Australia’s emerging marine bioproducts sector has the potential to become a globally competitive industry, researchers say.

The long-term partnership between Flinders University researchers and the macroalgal manufacturing industry also aims to support the development of new 3D-printable alginate-based bioinks from local seaweeds such as Ecklonia radiata (E. radiata) and Durvillaea potatorum (D. potatorum) to make medical quality 3D-printing biomaterials – also in rising demand around the world.

###

Media Contact
Professor Wei Zhang
[email protected]

Tags: BiotechnologyEcology/EnvironmentFisheries/AquacultureMarine/Freshwater BiologyMedicine/HealthNutrition/Nutrients
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Exploring NAD+ Precursors for Cognitive Disease Treatment

September 3, 2025

Targeting Cathepsin S Enhances IL-7 Anti-Tumor Immunity

September 3, 2025

Clinician Concerns: Navigating Opioid Management eConsults

September 3, 2025

Prototyping: Enhancing Understanding and Engagement Early

September 3, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Needlestick Injury Rates in Nurses and Students in Pakistan

    296 shares
    Share 118 Tweet 74
  • Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    154 shares
    Share 62 Tweet 39
  • Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    143 shares
    Share 57 Tweet 36
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    118 shares
    Share 47 Tweet 30

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Exploring NAD+ Precursors for Cognitive Disease Treatment

Targeting Cathepsin S Enhances IL-7 Anti-Tumor Immunity

Clinician Concerns: Navigating Opioid Management eConsults

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.