Subreddit: r/Algae
User: u/Big_Presentation8690
Original Post:
Why do you think algae food products are not more popular?
Very curious as to why more human snack foods don't have more algae in them. Its nutritious, rich in protein and vitamins? Why not just sprinkle it on some stuff and make it taste good and look fun? Have you guys have any good algae food snacks.
My Answer:
Hi, food scientist here.
There are a few challenges that make algae more difficult to work with versus other conventional ingredients, despite the fact that algae boasts quite a bit of nutritional value, protein content, and highly sustainable production.
One is that algae contains a lot of water. That means for every kilogram of raw algae, you need to press and dry the living crap out of it to get any meaningful material. That leads to increased production cost. The other issue is that the high water concentration makes it more likely that algae will spoil.
The second one is that algae flour can cause upset stomach in a small number of consumers, and it can be challenging to include in food product. A large venture-backed food company called TerraVia ended up in bankruptcy in 2017 because, among other issues, their algae ingredient caused upset stomach in consumers of the product Soylent. Other popular algal ingredients also created stomach cramping and illness in consumers.
Another is that algae has very difficult issues related to its organoleptic profile. The oils in algae can go rancid fairly quickly, leading to significant marine-like off-flavors that are quite off-putting to consumers. Most consumers are fairly sensitive to marine or fishy odors, and re-processing algae ingredients to strip them of these minor components can be time-consuming and costly.
There are companies working on it, but it still remains a hurdle to commercialize on a more significant scale.
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