Back to: Harvest

In the leadup to harvest, you may also want to send a sample of your kelp tissue to a state or private lab for testing. 

When you’re first starting out, it’s good to get to know your kelp. Lab testing can provide a detailed report of nutritional analysis. It can also flag possible contaminants that might limit you from selling your kelp as a food-grade product and could impact your marketing strategy. Some buyers may require a tissue sample test before committing to a purchase.

A lab analysis can test for the presence of heavy metals, arsenic, and iodine, and provide you with a “complete nutritional analysis” for nutritional labeling. Some states may require tissue and water samples as a prerequisite for commercial sale. In other states, this choice may be left to the farmer. If you’re planning to sell your product for food consumption, be sure to verify what the testing requirements are for your state, and check with your buyer to see if they have additional requirements. 

Tests can range from $100 to $800 depending on the level of detail. Any food testing lab can provide this service. Here is a link to a directory of labs available for food testing.