Any food safety concern with consuming fresh kelp that’s only had an initial rinse?
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Question from a farmer in Alaska: To your knowledge, is there any food safety concern with consuming fresh kelp that’s only had an initial rinse? I have done it, but not sure if we should advise people only to consume after being blanched, etc. This is a question I am asking to prepare for local dock sales starting next month.
GreenWave: The big food safety concern with fresh sugar kelp is the iodine content. Here's a great article that talks about how different temperatures and times of blanching can be used to control it fairly predictably. There's also concern about heavy metals, but I don't know if anyone has done tests to see if they 'come out in the wash' as well. I may be able to do some via GreenWave this harvest season. Otherwise, make sure you CYA with a label that contains (a) a shellfish allergen warning, (b) guidance to keep refrigerated below 40 degrees until ready to use, and (c) a recommendation that the kelp be cooked before eating.
@lindsay_olsen -Great question Lindsay, this is really informative!
@lindsay_olsen -Regarding iodine intake I was looking into goitrogenic foods to counteract high iodine:
https://meridianhealthclinic.c...
As far as I know the combination of seagreens and goitrogenic food is very common in Japanese diet. So probably that is something to digg into more deeply?
@jan_pfisterb - Oh very interesting, thanks for sharing. @sam_gar Looping you into this conversation too.
@jan_pfisterb - Super interesting, thank you for sharing!
Since most kelp people (myself and the rest of the GreenWave team included) aren't nutritionists, we generally recommend staying away from giving dietary guidance. An alternative focus might be: how can we as an industry better understand, quantify, and provide transparency into the iodine content in seaweed, so that doctors and RDs and individuals can make whatever decisions are right for their unique circumstances?
@jan_pfisterb - Oh very interesting, thanks for sharing. @sam_gar Looping you into this conversation too.
@jan_pfisterb - Super interesting, thank you for sharing!
Since most kelp people (myself and the rest of the GreenWave team included) aren't nutritionists, we generally recommend staying away from giving dietary guidance. An alternative focus might be: how can we as an industry better understand, quantify, and provide transparency into the iodine content in seaweed, so that doctors and RDs and individuals can make whatever decisions are right for their unique circumstances?