Nordic sea vegetables as a future edible crop : is it sustainable and safe?

Abstract: As the population continues to grow, so does the need for sustainable food sources. In recent years the production of sea vegetables has been getting more and more attention in the Nordic countries. The cultivation of seaweed can be connected to several of Sweden's national sustainability goals. Food production, in general, is connected to all but two of the national sustainability goals. Two sustainability goals are more closely connected to the production of sea vegetables, and these are the goal of "oceans in balance and a living coastline" and the goal of "limited climate impact". In this master thesis, the seaweed farmers of Sweden were interviewed in order to gather information from the people and catch viewpoints and social data that cannot be measured. The lack of knowledge and information in this new area is one of many points of view that were presented. There is a need for further research about sea vegetables. Furthermore, the contents of healthy or potentially harmful elements in edible seaweeds are still uncertain and need to be considered and further researched. Sea vegetables generally have a high content of iodine and salt. Eating more than 10g of dry seaweed per day is not recommended. It is doubtful that seaweed could be the central part of a meal, but it could add a lot of taste, texture, vitamins and nutritional value to a meal. Sea vegetables are a term commonly used for seaweeds cultivated seaweed, this term will be used to differentiate between wild occurring seaweed.