Preserving Quality: Post Harvest Handling and Storage | Farmer Forum
Recorded on October 12, 2023
This Farmer Forum webinar explores practical techniques for maintaining kelp quality from harvest to market. Sam Garwin, GreenWave’s Director of Market Development, shares research findings on reducing salt and iodine content in fresh kelp while preserving product integrity. The presentation includes insights on preventing blistering, managing biofouling, and optimal storage conditions for extending shelf life.
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction
Overview of GreenWave’s Farmer Forum series and post-harvest handling research
03:02 – Post-Harvest Fundamentals
Understanding kelp respiration and why quality preservation matters after harvest
08:13 – Salt Reduction Methods
Research findings on reducing salt content while maintaining kelp integrity
13:20 – Blistering Prevention
Discovery of how freshwater exposure affects kelp and techniques to delay blistering
15:55 – Iodine Reduction & Biofouling Management
Testing various wash water treatments for removing iodine and biofouling
20:56 – Storage Conditions Research
Optimal temperature, humidity, and packaging methods for extending shelf life
30:00 – Q&A Session
In-depth discussion of research applications for commercial kelp farming
Transcript
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Hi everyone. Uh, welcome to today’s Farmer Forum. We’re gonna get started. Um,
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my name is Sam Garrin. I am Green Wave’s Director of Market Development,
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and I’m based in Boston, Massachusetts. Um,
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for those of you who are joining for the first time,
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farmer Forum is an initiative we launched last year to connect the ACT active
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farming community, um,
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by bringing together people from monthly calls on real tangible topics that you
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might be facing in the field. And, um,
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so we hosted our first webinar on post harvest handling and last year’s farmer
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forum series. Um, and so we are kicking off this year’s series.
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This is the very first one of this year’s series, um,
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with, um,
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another post-harvest handling webinar that builds on the findings, uh,
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from last year with some new ones,
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and also recaps some of what we know about best practices around post-harvest
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handling and quality.
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And I do wanna call out that the research that we’re gonna be presenting today
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was funded in part by a global seaweed coalition grant,
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which we’re very grateful for. Um,
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and one quick administrative thing before we get going. Um,
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this call is being recorded, but only in speaker view.
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So if you don’t come off mute or put anything in the chat,
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you will not show up in that recording. That said,
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if you don’t mind being recorded,
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feel free to put questions in the chat as we go. Uh,
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Gigi will keep track of those or, uh, save them till the end,
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and you can come off mute and ask those questions directly.
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So in, um,
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in order to stay on track with timing,
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we’re gonna do introductions in the chat today.
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So if you wouldn’t mind putting in the chat your name, uh,
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what your role in the industry is, and where your farm or business is located,
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and then everyone can see those come in, um, as we get moving here.
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So I, I do have some co-presenters today.
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Our folks will be on the call answering questions based on about our research.
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Um, I’m joined today by Jeff Brandenburg, um, and Eric Vander Cook of Q Fresh,
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which is an independent consultancy specializing in fresh produce, uh,
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food science and packaging design and testing. And, uh, behind the scenes,
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I’m also supported by Grace Coy, our market, uh, development program manager,
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and by Gigi Lititz, our programs coordinator.
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So today on our agenda,
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we are going to be diving into post-harvest handling and quality control,
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spending a few minutes talking about what those are and why we care about them.
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And then we’re gonna spend the majority of the time talking about the 2022 to
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2023, uh, harvest season research that we could did with Q Freshs labs,
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where we looked at reducing salt, iodine and biofouling.
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And we also looked further into what the, um,
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optimal temperature and relative humidity conditions are for storing kelp post
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harvest. We’ll end with a few suggestions for future research, uh, that,
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that anyone out there could do, and then of course,
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leave plenty of time at the end for.
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So to start, what is post-harvest handling? Um,
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we think of post harvest handling, not just in seaweed,
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but across the board in any agricultural context as the stage of crop
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production immediately following harvest.
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And so this includes everything from transportation to
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cooling, cleaning, sorting, and packing.
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And it is really the most important period to preserve quality.
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So when that kelp comes out of the water,
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it is the freshest and best that it is ever going to be,
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and it can only go downhill from there. So your job as the farmer,
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or as anyone who plans to sell kelp commercially, um, or to feed people, um,
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is to preserve that quality, uh, because, uh, this is,
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this is the only chance you get basically, um,
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the science behind that. Just to do a quick science lesson here, um,
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you know, we all know that kelp photosynthesizes,
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and that when it’s photosynthesizes, it is, uh,
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pulling in c o two and, uh,
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it is using that c o two with, uh,
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sunshine to produce glucose. And it is also then,
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um, releasing if my clicks will work.
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There we go re releasing oxygen.
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And when we buy fresh fruits and vegetables from the store,
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we have an implicit understanding that they are in some ways still alive, right?
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So even though they’re no longer attached to the plant, they are, um,
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alive in some way. But if we keep them around long enough,
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they begin to decay and die, then we have to throw ’em away.
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So in the period of time between when something is harvested and when it
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eventually breaks down and dies, there are these metabolic reactions happening,
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and specifically the tissues that once performed, photosynthesis, um,
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switch to respiration.
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And respiration is the same exact activity that humans and every other living
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creature on earth is doing. And it is the opposite of photosynthesis.
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And so this is also what kelp does at night, by the way, when,
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when the sun goes down. Um, so the sun in respiration,
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we’re using that glucose in combination with oxygen and transforming it into
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carbon dioxide, water and energy or heat.
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So in other words, just like that fresh ke, uh, just like the fresh, um,
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produce in the grocery store,
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fresh kelp after it’s harvested is still alive and is doing something very
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different than what it did in the ocean.
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And a respiration rate is the speed at which
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respiration occurs. Um, and so we’re, we’re,
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what we’re trying to do when we wanna preserve quality is to slow
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down that respiration rate and keep that kelp in this respiration pseudo
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alive state for as long as possible.
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Because eventually when we use up all that glucose or when all that,
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uh, oxygen is used up, your kelp is going to die. And at that point,
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it gets real yucky and nobody will want to buy it.
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So when we think about quality, quality is really, uh,
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a measurable criteria that anyone could use to evaluate and compare
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seaweed crops. This is a little different than shelf life or food safety.
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So shelf life, you’ve heard that word is the length of
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time during which a, a product is desirable.
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And food safety refers to practices that prevent contamination, pathogen growth,
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and spoilage that could lead to sickness in people.
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And sea Grant has done amazing work on food safety. I see Michael Cella in the,
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in the audience. Um, he’s done some amazing work. Anushka, uh,
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has done some amazing work on food safety.
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That’s not really what we’re talking about today.
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We’re talking about quality standards, which have more to do with, uh,
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whether your product is going to be accepted by the buyer and whether it is
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going to be appropriate for whatever use cases you have in mind.
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So quality is really driven by whatever your customer wants.
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It may differ between buyers, even within the same market,
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but it can help differentiate your kelp from someone else’s kelp.
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And it can help command a premium price if you are able to consistently hit your
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quality standards.
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And some ways that we can think about quality, you might say, well,
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I know it when I see it,
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but that doesn’t really work when it comes to interacting with buyers. The more,
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uh, concrete we can get about what quality means,
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the better off these relationships are gonna be between all the way across the
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supply chain from, uh, from nurseries all the way to buyers.
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And so these are some ways that we can think about quality when it comes to,
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you know, what temperature is the kelp when it comes in, when it’s harvested,
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uh, what’s the moisture level? What color is it? The texture, the odor,
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and really putting words to describe what these things are.
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Maybe even attaching some photos to,
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to explain what you mean when you say something is a certain color. Um,
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these are some guidance that we have developed from talking to a lot of buyers,
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but you will likely want to come up with your own, um,
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that as you work with buyers to figure out what they want.
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And here we’ve summarized some of the things that we know already about
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what farmers can do to control quality. Um, some of these are
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during harvest and transport. Some of these are post-harvest. These are just,
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uh, you know, these are,
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are the commonly accepted ways in which we know we can control quality.
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And with the research that we did that we’re gonna be talking about shortly,
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we were trying to drill down on some of these topics and figure out, well,
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what else is,
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is there anything else we can do or can we get more specific about, um,
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for example, this contact with fresh water. Why,
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why don’t we want contact with fresh water? And how fresh is the water?
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And if you know that to be an issue,
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and how long would it have to be in con in contact for that to be an issue?
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Um, so getting into that research now, um, we
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decided to dig into some really common things that we have heard from buyers
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as being issues. So cell content, iodine, content,
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biofouling, all things that buyers are concerned about when they’re buying kelp,
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especially for food uses.
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And then we wanted to build on some research that we did last year around
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storage conditions for,
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for kelp quality and understand how humidity and,
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and temperature might affect the quality of the kelp when it is in storage.
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And in all of these studies that we did,
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we were really trying to use minimal processing techniques. Um,
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one of the things that QF Fresh specializes in is fresh product,
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fresh produce. And we’re looking at ways that we could,
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um, you know, control the salt,
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control the iodine without completely transforming the,
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the fresh kelp into some something else,
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into something that’s dried or fermented or otherwise,
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just a fundamentally different product methods that are really common in fresh
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produce processing. So we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,
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we’re trying to say like,
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what do we already do in other food sectors and do they work on kelp and,
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and what effect do they do they have on kelp?
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So let’s get into it. Um, salt reduction. Why do we care?
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So sugar kelp does have a relatively high sodium content, and it is,
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you know, it’s less than straight salt, but, but it, it’s a pretty up there. Um,
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and salt levels are a concern for food and agriculture applications.
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So from the food side, there are folks who are watching their sodium,
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that is something that C P G products have to pay attention to when they’re
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building, building out their product and, and, um, developing their food labels.
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And for agriculture,
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people are concerned about applying salt to the, to the ground.
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You know, too much salt could have toxic effects for plants,
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and there are really very few extraction methods that preserve a fresh,
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fresh product. So, um,
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in addition to losing salt through some of the existing processing methods,
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we know that you are also losing calcium minerals and having a texture change if
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you do things like blanc your kelp. So a question we had going into this was,
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are we able to reduce salt? Why
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preserving, um, some of qualities of, uh,
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the desirable qualities of fresh ke?
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So we tried what is essentially the, the simplest possible way to reduce salt,
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which is we, we wanted to see, okay, if we take this kelp and,
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and we put it in different levels of salt water,
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so to going all the way from the same salt water,
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the same saltiness as the ocean down to
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totally fresh water, um, you know,
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it will the kelp be encouraged to essentially just release that salt
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into the water.
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So we put kelp in different salinity wash waters,
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and we stir it around a little bit,
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and we checked and documented the salt concentration in every approximately two
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to five minutes, and noted changes in color, texture, appearance,
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trigger pressure. So that’s the, like how, how, uh,
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almost like the texture, like how, how rigid is it? And, uh,
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we also looked to see if there was any bio foul removal, removal.
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And what we found was that the largest increase in,
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in salinity, in,
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in salt released from the kelp occurred in the first step down from
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ocean water to brackish water. And, um,
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with each subsequent bath,
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the amount of salt that was released decreased.
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So here it is in chart format,
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you can see this big jump in the beginning from, uh,
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37.5 P P T to, uh, 20.
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And then from there it kind of, it went, it, it, um,
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kind of fluctuated a little bit. Um, so we,
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we can see that there was a big jump and then less benefit from the era and out.
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And we also just go back to this last point in here.
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Notice the blistering occurred, and this was not a surprise to us. We,
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we know from all the best practices that are out there that we know that
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blistering occurred. But, um, so with this finding, we said, okay, well, well,
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could we find out more about that blistering? And why does it happen?
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And when does it happen? So we then dived into the,
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the blistering a little bit further. This was not officially part of our study,
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but you know, scientists get curious. So, uh,
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we decided to investigate, um,
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what happens when, uh, we put salt the,
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the kelp into varying levels of salt water.
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Is there a salinity level that is sufficient to prevent or delay blistering?
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And, um, does, does it the blistering appear in different places, et cetera.
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So this was one of the, my favorite parts of the experiment actually, um, was,
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was learning all this new, all these new fun facts about blistering. Um,
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first of all,
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we learned that lower salinity does result in,
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in quicker blistering, and that blistering increases over time.
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But we also learned that,
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that there is a period of time before blistering occurs.
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So we found that sugar kelp,
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in some cases could withstand seven to 12 minutes in fresh water prior to
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blistering. Um, we also discovered that,
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that you could actually delay that blistering by adding just a little bit of
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salt to, to the water. And so we, uh, here you can say,
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could this third bullet point blistering could be delayed up to 60 minutes with
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as little as five P p t salt. And finally,
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we also saw that blistering actually stops when the sugar kelp is removed from
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direct contact with the salt, with the low salinity water.
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So it’s not like you put it on, put the, the, the freshwater contact,
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uh, then results in blistering spreading throughout the kelp, and that,
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that you’ve just ruined your entire batch. If you can stop that, uh,
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contact from occurring,
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you will no longer see advanced damage to the kelp.
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Um, so this was just one study.
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We would really encourage others to do more research in this area,
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but I thought this was pretty interesting and had some pretty interesting
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implications for, um, folks who are, uh, might,
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might be harvesting under suboptimal conditions where they,
253
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the sugar kelp might come into contact perhaps briefly with freshwater.
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We then looked at iodine reduction.
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And the reason we care about iodine reduction is that, uh,
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a lot of the iodine that is in sugar kelp is absorbed into the bloodstream.
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High iodine intake can lead to hyperthyroidism, and, um,
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there can at times, depending on where and when the kelp is harvested,
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be a lot of iodine in there. So there’s a lot of iodine in there to begin with.
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And then the majority of it is being absorbed by humans. So, um,
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we want to be able to control the iodine pretty, uh, reliably.
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And the similar to salt,
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the known methods for getting iodine out significantly modify the kelp from its
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its fresh format.
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So we decided to use ozone in modified pH wash water
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to see if we could, again,
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encourage kelp to just release its iodine into the water. Similar to,
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uh,
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with the salt and ozone in wash water is a common technique used
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00:16:49.990 –> 00:16:54.850
in, um, cleaning produce, as is the modified pH wash water.
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00:16:59.020 –> 00:17:03.080
So what we tested, we filled 40 gallons of water,
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uh, in 60 gallon tanks. We, again,
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used the same salinity as the Atlantic Ocean in order to not introduce
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other variables here. And then we used ozone generators to,
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to create ozone in the water. Um, we added, uh,
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various other substan, uh, kind of sanitizers or, or pH modifiers to the water.
277
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And we added CCB to the tank, and we stirred
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and we
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observed things very similar to what we looked at for, for the salt experiments.
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And then we tested the iodine levels in the water,
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and we also tested for iodine left inside the kelp itself after,
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um, after it was processed.
283
00:17:47.280 –> 00:17:50.360
So what we found here is that the largest release of iodine, uh,
284
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was occurred with, um, with parasitic acid.
285
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So that is a, a very low pH, um,
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cleanser,
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or that is often used in produce processing in a hypers saline environment.
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So we added a little salt and we, uh,
289
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there was a reduction in iodine in all of the,
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the instances where we used P A a in general, the higher salinity,
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00:18:17.720 –> 00:18:18.030
uh,
292
00:18:18.030 –> 00:18:22.620
water wash waters were more effective at reducing IOD con iodine content in the
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00:18:22.650 –> 00:18:27.470
kelp. Um, we hypothesize that this has to do with the connectivity levels,
294
00:18:28.090 –> 00:18:32.430
but it was fairly challenging to figure out how effective this method was,
295
00:18:32.970 –> 00:18:36.990
uh, because the iodine levels in the kelp itself were so variable,
296
00:18:37.250 –> 00:18:41.710
and we saw that, um, both with the, the fresh product and then with the,
297
00:18:41.850 –> 00:18:42.830
the processed product,
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00:18:42.840 –> 00:18:46.670
there was just so little consistency in what the original iodine levels were,
299
00:18:46.900 –> 00:18:48.590
that it was kind of hard to tell.
300
00:18:48.690 –> 00:18:51.190
So we would probably do this differently next time. Um,
301
00:18:51.490 –> 00:18:56.030
but it was interesting to see that the higher conductivity led to,
302
00:18:56.530 –> 00:18:59.470
uh, in general more iodine release.
303
00:19:03.110 –> 00:19:06.280
Finally, um, we looked, or, sorry, not finally. This is,
304
00:19:06.280 –> 00:19:09.800
this is finally for the, uh, for the things that we did in, in wash water,
305
00:19:09.800 –> 00:19:12.280
essentially. Um, we looked at bio fowl reduction.
306
00:19:12.540 –> 00:19:14.980
And for those of you who are active farmers,
307
00:19:15.400 –> 00:19:19.580
you know that bio fowl is a big concern for seaweed,
308
00:19:19.580 –> 00:19:22.100
that going to food uses.
309
00:19:22.480 –> 00:19:27.060
The primary way of managing biofouling is just simply early detection.
310
00:19:27.060 –> 00:19:30.500
You go out on your boat every week, the closer you get to, uh, to harvest,
311
00:19:30.680 –> 00:19:33.340
and you look for it. And when you see the first signs of biofouling,
312
00:19:33.340 –> 00:19:34.173
you harvest.
313
00:19:34.440 –> 00:19:38.500
But these methods of early detection are not always successful.
314
00:19:38.500 –> 00:19:41.780
Sometimes you miss something and you do end up with biofouling kelp.
315
00:19:42.160 –> 00:19:46.980
So the more we know how to remove biofuel after it has happened, the, uh,
316
00:19:46.980 –> 00:19:48.140
better we are able to meet,
317
00:19:48.290 –> 00:19:51.380
meet buyers’ needs by giving them the clean product that they want.
318
00:19:51.800 –> 00:19:56.220
So we were interested in learning whether there were simple and
319
00:19:56.730 –> 00:20:01.620
expensive ways to remove biofuel during a wash step. So once again,
320
00:20:02.300 –> 00:20:02.810
we, um,
321
00:20:02.810 –> 00:20:07.460
decided to use substances that are very commonly used in
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00:20:07.630 –> 00:20:08.940
fresh produce processing.
323
00:20:09.320 –> 00:20:14.020
We applied varying levels of chlorine and parasitic acid, and we agitated the,
324
00:20:14.360 –> 00:20:17.940
uh, kelp and we observed its effectiveness for moving biofouling.
325
00:20:19.670 –> 00:20:23.730
And what we found here is that, uh, so first of all, I will caveat that,
326
00:20:23.730 –> 00:20:27.870
that the kelp that we got, uh, was cleaner than we expected.
327
00:20:27.970 –> 00:20:31.950
We expected there to be more biofouling. And, um, there, there was some,
328
00:20:32.130 –> 00:20:33.510
but there was not a lot.
329
00:20:33.970 –> 00:20:37.590
So we can’t say anything about these methods effectiveness on, you know,
330
00:20:37.610 –> 00:20:40.470
really bio fouled kelp. But, um,
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00:20:40.850 –> 00:20:44.630
you can see from the pictures we had some small Bria Owens mostly on the edges
332
00:20:44.630 –> 00:20:45.830
of the main blades of our kelp.
333
00:20:46.170 –> 00:20:48.520
And we found that chlorine made bio foul removal easier,
334
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and the parasitic acid made removal significantly easier.
335
00:20:52.100 –> 00:20:55.880
And then if you combine parasitic acid with minimal agitation,
336
00:20:56.670 –> 00:20:59.420
that was, uh,
337
00:21:00.120 –> 00:21:05.100
the most effective method that we tried for getting that bio foul off,
338
00:21:06.850 –> 00:21:10.510
moving into storage conditions. Um, we, for this study,
339
00:21:10.510 –> 00:21:14.830
really wanted to build on what we learned last year about different container
340
00:21:14.830 –> 00:21:19.230
types and our understanding of the lifecycle of seaweed
341
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post-harvest,
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and the fact that it does need access to air in order to
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continue respiring and to not de start decaying, uh,
344
00:21:30.050 –> 00:21:33.750
too quickly. So under current food safety guidelines,
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fresh seaweeds should be stored below 40 degrees,
346
00:21:35.770 –> 00:21:40.030
but we were wondering whether it mattered how much lower than 40 degrees,
347
00:21:40.030 –> 00:21:43.110
whether there was any variation at different temperatures,
348
00:21:43.650 –> 00:21:46.630
and was there such a thing as too much moisture or too little?
349
00:21:47.090 –> 00:21:50.790
And so we were really looking to learn more about kind of the bounds of this.
350
00:21:54.410 –> 00:21:58.680
So what we did here was we
351
00:22:00.060 –> 00:22:05.010
harvested some kelp and we repackaged it in avar
352
00:22:05.110 –> 00:22:09.410
sealed bags with, uh, varying levels of macro perforations.
353
00:22:09.470 –> 00:22:12.690
We put them in sealed bags with micro perforations,
354
00:22:13.070 –> 00:22:16.730
we put them in an R P C, which is, um, I’ll show it to you in a second.
355
00:22:16.840 –> 00:22:20.370
It’s like a perforated, uh, uh, uh,
356
00:22:20.390 –> 00:22:23.810
or a vented small tote that’s used in the produce industry a lot.
357
00:22:24.350 –> 00:22:28.690
And we tried putting a bag around that. We tried putting a bag around it,
358
00:22:28.750 –> 00:22:29.810
but leaving one end open.
359
00:22:30.110 –> 00:22:34.530
And then we tried just leaving the seaweed completely exposed in a cooler,
360
00:22:38.360 –> 00:22:43.020
and there’s an R P C right there so that these bented totes are, are very,
361
00:22:43.260 –> 00:22:47.820
very common in produce. And so we monitored odor, color, senescence,
362
00:22:47.820 –> 00:22:50.100
microbial growth, and, and moisture changes.
363
00:22:50.640 –> 00:22:54.980
And we put the packages in different temperature ranges and, uh,
364
00:22:55.160 –> 00:22:59.900
we had the ambient air, uh, variable as well.
365
00:23:01.820 –> 00:23:06.650
So what we found was actually that a lot of these factors did not
366
00:23:06.650 –> 00:23:09.130
matter as much we as we expected them to.
367
00:23:09.310 –> 00:23:14.130
So there was not very much visible difference between
368
00:23:14.510 –> 00:23:19.250
the kelp stored at 33 degrees and the kelp stored at 36 degrees,
369
00:23:19.270 –> 00:23:23.530
and in fact, the kelp seemed to behave perfectly fine up to about 45 degrees.
370
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And so, um, you know, obviously the food for food safety reasons,
371
00:23:27.470 –> 00:23:28.970
we do want that to be below 40.
372
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But the good news is it’s not that sensitive below 40.
373
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We also found that, uh, as far as humidity goes,
374
00:23:36.860 –> 00:23:39.920
the kelp inside a bag re uh, we,
375
00:23:40.000 –> 00:23:44.960
we had it at lots of different levels of perforations, and we, uh,
376
00:23:45.200 –> 00:23:48.320
would’ve expected that humidity to change a little bit,
377
00:23:48.340 –> 00:23:52.480
but the seaweed really just humidified the inside of the bag to close to a
378
00:23:52.480 –> 00:23:55.960
hundred percent, 95 to a hundred percent. Um,
379
00:23:57.990 –> 00:24:00.760
and so, uh,
380
00:24:00.860 –> 00:24:05.640
as long as the seaweed was kept above 83%
381
00:24:05.920 –> 00:24:10.360
relative humidity, it was able to maintain its quality pretty darn well. So the,
382
00:24:10.420 –> 00:24:13.760
the, the kinda the lesson learned here is that access to air is important,
383
00:24:14.300 –> 00:24:16.000
but that air does need to be moist.
384
00:24:16.420 –> 00:24:18.240
And as long as you’re able to accomplish that,
385
00:24:18.240 –> 00:24:19.880
which you can do through any number of ways,
386
00:24:19.880 –> 00:24:22.320
whether that’s a covered vented coat,
387
00:24:23.160 –> 00:24:28.160
a sealed package with perforations in it, or just a room that has high humidity,
388
00:24:28.580 –> 00:24:30.080
you, you’re gonna be pretty, okay.
389
00:24:30.580 –> 00:24:34.040
So the only tests that showed degradation were this, uh,
390
00:24:34.040 –> 00:24:38.800
the R P C where there is only, uh, either where it was completely uncovered,
391
00:24:38.800 –> 00:24:43.080
so it was subjected to humidity levels that were too low, uh, or the,
392
00:24:43.100 –> 00:24:46.240
the one where it was the bag sort of was open at one end.
393
00:24:46.260 –> 00:24:51.240
And then we did see that that end was dried out and, and kind of, uh, less,
394
00:24:52.300 –> 00:24:56.270
less, uh, it had started. Yeah, it started to dry out,
395
00:24:56.270 –> 00:25:00.790
but then again when we closed the bag again, it actually re moisturized itself,
396
00:25:00.840 –> 00:25:02.350
which was really pretty fascinating.
397
00:25:06.720 –> 00:25:11.020
So next steps we would, um, you know, we,
398
00:25:11.080 –> 00:25:15.540
we were bound by time and money as everyone is, uh, in terms of these studies.
399
00:25:15.920 –> 00:25:18.300
We feel like we really just, uh,
400
00:25:18.480 –> 00:25:22.100
hit the tip of the iceberg here in terms of all the different things that we
401
00:25:22.100 –> 00:25:23.260
could investigate further.
402
00:25:23.720 –> 00:25:25.740
And so these are suggestions that we’re putting out there,
403
00:25:25.930 –> 00:25:29.180
sort of to the universe for other folks to research.
404
00:25:29.830 –> 00:25:32.340
These would include for this, for salt reduction,
405
00:25:32.340 –> 00:25:35.060
looking at electrolysis or electrolyzed water,
406
00:25:35.210 –> 00:25:37.700
looking at different temperature ranges in that wash water,
407
00:25:37.700 –> 00:25:41.580
looking at time in the wash water and additional sanitizer concentrations.
408
00:25:42.750 –> 00:25:46.850
Um, for the blistering work, one of the things we did not look at, we was,
409
00:25:46.910 –> 00:25:50.650
we did not do a full nutrient analysis. So we would,
410
00:25:50.910 –> 00:25:55.210
we really wonder what else is happening at the time of blistering
411
00:26:01.250 –> 00:26:04.490
Nutrients? Are we losing shelf life? Uh,
412
00:26:04.670 –> 00:26:06.610
or is it truly just a cosmetic thing?
413
00:26:07.230 –> 00:26:11.050
I’d be curious to see what happens with higher ozone concentrations.
414
00:26:11.070 –> 00:26:15.570
We use relatively small ozone generators and would be interested in seeing what
415
00:26:15.570 –> 00:26:19.090
would happen if, if larger or more ozone generators were used.
416
00:26:19.540 –> 00:26:22.930
Additional sanitizer con concentrations would be interesting to look at as well.
417
00:26:23.590 –> 00:26:26.850
And, uh, there’s, based on the literature,
418
00:26:26.850 –> 00:26:30.850
there might also be some benefit to trying different light intensities to see
419
00:26:30.850 –> 00:26:33.530
whether that affects the release of iodine at all
420
00:26:36.070 –> 00:26:37.680
When it comes to storage conditions,
421
00:26:38.270 –> 00:26:41.560
obviously additional temperature and humidity levels would be interesting to
422
00:26:41.560 –> 00:26:45.960
explore. We also hypothesize that the, um,
423
00:26:46.470 –> 00:26:47.180
storage,
424
00:26:47.180 –> 00:26:50.600
the optimal storage conditions might vary for the kelp depending on when it’s
425
00:26:50.600 –> 00:26:53.840
harvested, depending on what temperature the water is when it’s harvested,
426
00:26:54.540 –> 00:26:55.640
that’s something to look at.
427
00:26:56.060 –> 00:27:00.480
And it would also be interesting to look at the shelf life of packaged or value
428
00:27:00.480 –> 00:27:04.120
added products after the storage in various conditions. So, you know,
429
00:27:04.340 –> 00:27:07.680
it looks fine, uh, based on what we were able to observe,
430
00:27:08.100 –> 00:27:12.400
but are there actually longer term implications of storing it in different ways?
431
00:27:12.540 –> 00:27:16.580
We, we are not sure about that. And then when it comes to bio file reduction,
432
00:27:17.040 –> 00:27:18.700
uh, we would like to test the,
433
00:27:18.720 –> 00:27:22.020
the methods that worked for the smaller bio ffo on larger,
434
00:27:22.050 –> 00:27:26.260
more developed biofouling. We’d like to try different types of biofouling, um,
435
00:27:26.590 –> 00:27:30.020
mechanical agitation in one of these, um,
436
00:27:30.900 –> 00:27:33.580
machines that is actually intended for washing produce.
437
00:27:34.040 –> 00:27:35.460
We did this pretty manually, as you could see,
438
00:27:35.460 –> 00:27:39.260
we were in a food processing facility using commercial equipment, but it is not,
439
00:27:40.230 –> 00:27:43.570
um, commercial produce processing equipment.
440
00:27:43.590 –> 00:27:47.370
So that would be an area to expand into. And then of course, uh,
441
00:27:47.370 –> 00:27:49.650
we would also maybe wanna vary the time, uh,
442
00:27:49.650 –> 00:27:51.730
soaking in the wash water a bit more.
443
00:27:58.830 –> 00:28:00.120
Um, okay.
444
00:28:00.800 –> 00:28:04.760
I know that was a huge amount of information through any of these,
445
00:28:04.760 –> 00:28:07.600
but wanna make sure we have lots of time for questions.
446
00:28:10.510 –> 00:28:13.170
Um, let’s dive in here.
447
00:28:20.500 –> 00:28:25.340
Okay. Um, Mike,
448
00:28:26.980 –> 00:28:30.160
you had a question about the lifecycle slide,
449
00:28:31.940 –> 00:28:32.773
so lemme go back.
450
00:28:33.020 –> 00:28:34.280
Yes, yes, ma’am.
451
00:28:35.660 –> 00:28:38.880
So you talked about it being alive, like when,
452
00:28:40.510 –> 00:28:45.480
when is it no longer alive? Meaning, you know,
453
00:28:45.480 –> 00:28:48.200
when you cut it off of the line,
454
00:28:48.630 –> 00:28:53.320
does that sort of start the death spiral or, you know,
455
00:28:53.320 –> 00:28:58.040
if you cut it off and keep it in salt water, does it stay alive?
456
00:29:00.780 –> 00:29:03.760
Or if you were to yeah, you know, cut it at the hold fast,
457
00:29:04.350 –> 00:29:05.520
does that keep it alive?
458
00:29:08.320 –> 00:29:12.420
Um, I have not looked at that research as part of the work that we’ve done with
459
00:29:12.420 –> 00:29:17.020
GreenWave, but Jeff, I know you’ve done work with other, um, seaweed companies.
460
00:29:17.040 –> 00:29:22.040
Is there anything you can say to, to like what the cutoff point is?
461
00:29:22.900 –> 00:29:23.960
Uh, so, um,
462
00:29:26.700 –> 00:29:30.100
Yelp acts a lot like press root, fruits and vegetables.
463
00:29:31.180 –> 00:29:35.080
So when a fruit and vegetable is on the vine, um,
464
00:29:35.900 –> 00:29:39.440
photosynthesis is happening as, as Sam mentioned,
465
00:29:40.100 –> 00:29:42.400
as soon as you harvest it or cut it, um,
466
00:29:43.230 –> 00:29:48.120
that photosynthesis transitions as does a lot of other biochemical processes,
467
00:29:48.700 –> 00:29:53.280
but transitions over to respiration. So at that point in time,
468
00:29:53.910 –> 00:29:57.640
it’s slowly beginning to die, um,
469
00:29:58.420 –> 00:30:03.240
but it’s still considered alive as long as it’s consuming oxygen and giving
470
00:30:03.300 –> 00:30:04.560
off carbon dioxide.
471
00:30:05.140 –> 00:30:08.440
And depending upon what conditions you store it at,
472
00:30:08.940 –> 00:30:13.640
it will continue to do so. Some produce can last, you know,
473
00:30:13.910 –> 00:30:14.743
15,
474
00:30:14.800 –> 00:30:19.800
17 days under the right conditions and still be considered alive at
475
00:30:19.800 –> 00:30:23.520
some point in time, though, it’s going to use up all of its energy,
476
00:30:23.670 –> 00:30:27.880
it’s no longer gonna consume oxygen, give off carbon dioxide,
477
00:30:27.950 –> 00:30:32.920
heat and moisture, and then it is completely dead. Um,
478
00:30:33.260 –> 00:30:38.240
so that’s usually a number of days after you harvest it. But make no mistake,
479
00:30:39.310 –> 00:30:43.360
once you harvest it, the clock starts ticking. Uh,
480
00:30:43.620 –> 00:30:48.080
and so what you’re trying to do is extend that clock,
481
00:30:48.260 –> 00:30:50.680
extend that time period as long as possible.
482
00:30:51.980 –> 00:30:54.440
So, so that ties into my second question that I posted.
483
00:30:54.660 –> 00:30:58.640
So if you were to harvest it and put it in bags and then throw those bags, um,
484
00:30:58.910 –> 00:31:03.800
over the side and sort of store those in the seawater for throughout the
485
00:31:03.800 –> 00:31:07.480
day until you’re ready to go in, does that extend the,
486
00:31:08.850 –> 00:31:12.340
the liveness, you know, does that buy you the eight hours, um,
487
00:31:12.730 –> 00:31:15.340
that it otherwise would be in a tub starting to,
488
00:31:15.340 –> 00:31:18.420
Yeah, so that’s a great question, Mike. What you’re talking about,
489
00:31:19.200 –> 00:31:22.820
we refer to as modified atmosphere packaging. And you know,
490
00:31:22.820 –> 00:31:26.980
and this is true for all leafy green products, it’s true for seaweed.
491
00:31:27.040 –> 00:31:30.940
So the seaweed is consuming oxygen, giving off carbon dioxide.
492
00:31:31.400 –> 00:31:34.460
If you put it inside some kind of container,
493
00:31:35.080 –> 00:31:37.940
it will begin and seal that container like a bag.
494
00:31:38.480 –> 00:31:42.620
It will begin to draw oxygen out and put carbon dioxide in.
495
00:31:42.680 –> 00:31:45.460
It will change the atmosphere inside that package.
496
00:31:46.480 –> 00:31:50.380
By lowering the level of oxygen in the package and increasing the level of
497
00:31:50.380 –> 00:31:51.300
carbon dioxide,
498
00:31:51.480 –> 00:31:55.940
you’re actually putting the seaweed to sleep and it at,
499
00:31:55.940 –> 00:31:58.020
which then prolongs its life.
500
00:31:59.040 –> 00:32:03.940
So you don’t necessarily have to put it back into the salt water if it’s a
501
00:32:03.940 –> 00:32:06.020
sealed bag, if it’s a unsealed bag,
502
00:32:06.450 –> 00:32:09.420
then you can put it back into the salt water.
503
00:32:10.000 –> 00:32:14.980
But that respiration is gonna take place no matter what once you
504
00:32:14.980 –> 00:32:18.260
harvest it. And the parameter that can
505
00:32:20.200 –> 00:32:24.410
dissect it more than anything else is temperature. The, the, the, um,
506
00:32:25.310 –> 00:32:29.130
the colder you keep it, the slower it’s gonna respire or
507
00:32:31.280 –> 00:32:32.113
Breathe. Okay.
508
00:32:32.390 –> 00:32:36.930
And Mike, about, you know, there, there are some folks, um,
509
00:32:37.030 –> 00:32:42.000
in Alaska in particular who, who, who are using tenders to go to.
510
00:32:42.220 –> 00:32:45.200
So they are doing what you’re saying, like in terms of the, like a brailer bag,
511
00:32:45.200 –> 00:32:48.280
basically, like a bag that, that is, um,
512
00:32:49.270 –> 00:32:53.320
that allows some water flow, uh, to the kelp still. Uh,
513
00:32:53.460 –> 00:32:54.920
and then so they’re like leaving the,
514
00:32:54.940 –> 00:32:58.400
the kelp sitting in the water and then folks are going to going to get it.
515
00:32:58.880 –> 00:33:00.560
I don’t, nobody, to my knowledge,
516
00:33:00.560 –> 00:33:05.320
nobody has done a side-by-side comparison of like, you go out, you harvest kelp,
517
00:33:05.320 –> 00:33:08.050
some of it you put in, uh,
518
00:33:08.750 –> 00:33:12.210
the like vented totes on land. And some of them you,
519
00:33:12.210 –> 00:33:16.610
some of it you put in a brailer bag and you look at it all in two days and see
520
00:33:16.610 –> 00:33:19.610
like, what did better. I don’t think anyone’s done a side-by-side comparison,
521
00:33:20.310 –> 00:33:24.930
but I can see some ways in which the brailer bag situation makes a lot of sense.
522
00:33:25.510 –> 00:33:29.650
You know, uh, salt water, like ocean water has oxygen dissolved in it,
523
00:33:29.670 –> 00:33:33.930
so it is still getting access to oxygen. It’s also, you’re relieving the weight,
524
00:33:33.990 –> 00:33:35.850
so it’s not getting, one of the things that happens,
525
00:33:35.940 –> 00:33:39.490
we’ve seen if you put the seaweed into huge containers on land,
526
00:33:39.590 –> 00:33:43.970
is that the weight of the seaweed just like crushes it and removes access to
527
00:33:43.990 –> 00:33:46.810
oxygen for the kelp actually in the middle first.
528
00:33:46.810 –> 00:33:49.210
People think that the kelp on the bottom that does the worst,
529
00:33:49.210 –> 00:33:53.090
and it’s actually the kelp in the middle ’cause it’s so compacted and has no
530
00:33:53.290 –> 00:33:56.690
access to oxygen at all. So, you know,
531
00:33:57.920 –> 00:34:01.770
anecdotally people have had success with, with the method you’re talking about,
532
00:34:01.830 –> 00:34:03.650
but I don’t know that anyone’s done a side by side.
533
00:34:05.080 –> 00:34:06.370
Okay. Thank you. Good stuff.
534
00:34:07.800 –> 00:34:12.650
Yeah. And you had another question, Mike, about harvesting during raining.
535
00:34:13.580 –> 00:34:17.050
Would you consider that little amount of water to lead to blistering? Yes.
536
00:34:17.110 –> 00:34:18.170
We have heard that, that,
537
00:34:18.170 –> 00:34:21.090
that even that small amount of water can lead to blistering if it just sits
538
00:34:21.090 –> 00:34:21.970
there on top.
539
00:34:23.240 –> 00:34:24.073
Okay.
540
00:34:24.900 –> 00:34:29.880
Um, and then Evie had a follow up question about whether removing kelp from the
541
00:34:29.880 –> 00:34:31.520
freshwater rinse and halter during the blistering.
542
00:34:31.520 –> 00:34:36.160
Did we drain it or quickly rinse it with salt water? Jeff, do you remember?
543
00:34:36.160 –> 00:34:37.400
Which? Which we did.
544
00:34:38.150 –> 00:34:38.983
We just drained it.
545
00:34:40.240 –> 00:34:41.073
You just drained it.
546
00:34:46.080 –> 00:34:49.030
There was also a question on, um,
547
00:34:49.780 –> 00:34:52.030
when the consumer eats it is, it’s still alive.
548
00:34:52.850 –> 00:34:57.030
If you market something as fresh, then yes,
549
00:34:57.460 –> 00:35:02.130
it’s still alive. It’s still consuming oxygen,
550
00:35:02.140 –> 00:35:05.250
still giving off carbon dioxide. You can’t,
551
00:35:05.790 –> 00:35:07.770
you can’t call it fresh if it’s not
552
00:35:11.670 –> 00:35:14.650
Great. Um,
553
00:35:16.960 –> 00:35:17.710
okay.
554
00:35:17.710 –> 00:35:22.250
Andrew asked whether we looked at replacing with any other salt
555
00:35:22.280 –> 00:35:26.280
solutions like potassium chloride.
556
00:35:28.570 –> 00:35:29.870
Do you have any thoughts on that, Jeff?
557
00:35:31.540 –> 00:35:33.960
Uh, for this experiment, we did not.
558
00:35:34.500 –> 00:35:38.880
We used typical table salt, salt sodium chloride.
559
00:35:40.250 –> 00:35:42.670
Um, we certainly could look at that at,
560
00:35:42.730 –> 00:35:45.190
at some point in time and it’s probably worth doing it,
561
00:35:45.610 –> 00:35:48.910
but that was outside the scope of this particular experiment.
562
00:35:55.280 –> 00:35:58.550
Great. And then my,
563
00:36:02.140 –> 00:36:07.030
when during sanitizer dips, did you assess how easy it was over time?
564
00:36:07.450 –> 00:36:10.350
So could these procedures realistically and effectively be achieved at
565
00:36:10.350 –> 00:36:11.183
commercial scales
566
00:36:12.830 –> 00:36:17.080
With the sanitizers? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, um, the p a a,
567
00:36:17.080 –> 00:36:20.960
which is very commonly used in the fresh produce industry,
568
00:36:21.900 –> 00:36:25.640
um, this could be done whether you, you know,
569
00:36:25.660 –> 00:36:30.160
you do a batch operation where you’re dipping it into the sanitizer for so many
570
00:36:30.160 –> 00:36:31.920
seconds and then you’re taking it out.
571
00:36:32.300 –> 00:36:36.680
Or if you have a trough where the water’s running through it and the sanitizer
572
00:36:36.740 –> 00:36:40.680
is in there being recirculated, these can, the you,
573
00:36:40.750 –> 00:36:45.290
what we found with sanitize, you could easily scale it up and,
574
00:36:45.390 –> 00:36:50.290
and in most almost all fresh processing facilities for fruits and vegetables,
575
00:36:50.780 –> 00:36:53.690
these kinds of equipment are already in place.
576
00:36:59.160 –> 00:36:59.993
Thanks, Jeff.
577
00:37:00.410 –> 00:37:04.300
This is Eric from QF Fresh. Um, expanding on, expanding on that. Um,
578
00:37:05.570 –> 00:37:10.160
we also saw the biggest release of that iodine almost
579
00:37:10.160 –> 00:37:13.720
immediately. So we tested at kind of varying times and we,
580
00:37:13.720 –> 00:37:15.400
and we continued the testing over time,
581
00:37:15.900 –> 00:37:20.160
but we did see that biggest iodine release kind of immediately. Um,
582
00:37:20.460 –> 00:37:25.200
and so that does feed into, um, the time that you’d put it in a wash water. So,
583
00:37:25.260 –> 00:37:27.760
so I do think that it would be pretty effective.
584
00:37:37.260 –> 00:37:41.210
Great. Thank you. Um, Adrian, you are raising your hand.
585
00:37:41.210 –> 00:37:42.690
Would you like to come off mute and ask a question?
586
00:37:44.130 –> 00:37:46.590
Hi. Um, I’m just wondering, uh,
587
00:37:46.590 –> 00:37:51.190
whether you have a priority in your mind regarding, uh, you know, the,
588
00:37:51.190 –> 00:37:54.710
the concentration of sodium or the, um,
589
00:37:55.590 –> 00:37:56.423
concentration of iodine.
590
00:37:56.550 –> 00:38:00.030
’cause obviously you’re using slightly different treatments in terms of salt,
591
00:38:00.410 –> 00:38:02.790
uh, you know, diff the different starting points.
592
00:38:02.970 –> 00:38:05.430
So did you have a process in mind how that would work?
593
00:38:05.640 –> 00:38:09.750
Would you remove salt first and then, uh, move to the,
594
00:38:09.770 –> 00:38:12.350
the iodine or iodine first and then move to the salt?
595
00:38:15.270 –> 00:38:16.370
For, for me, um,
596
00:38:16.550 –> 00:38:20.130
the ideal solution would be to find something that works for both at the same
597
00:38:20.130 –> 00:38:23.210
time. Um, right. I, I think it would be, I,
598
00:38:23.290 –> 00:38:27.570
I think it would start to get kind of too processed if we had to use,
599
00:38:28.340 –> 00:38:31.410
let’s for say, for example, p a a to get the iodine out,
600
00:38:31.410 –> 00:38:34.810
and then we had to use a step down method of salt concentration to,
601
00:38:34.830 –> 00:38:38.960
to help pull salt out, um, or something else active. Um,
602
00:38:39.470 –> 00:38:43.440
obviously that might be necessary to really get a fresh product at the end of
603
00:38:43.440 –> 00:38:43.640
the day.
604
00:38:43.640 –> 00:38:47.720
But the ideal solution in my mind would be finding something that kind of does
605
00:38:47.720 –> 00:38:49.320
it all at once, um, right,
606
00:38:49.320 –> 00:38:54.200
without kind of affecting too much the rigidity or pulling too many nutrients
607
00:38:54.200 –> 00:38:58.720
out of the product. Because, you know, our theory on this and, um,
608
00:38:58.820 –> 00:39:01.360
the reason that we tested what we did was that we were trying to find,
609
00:39:01.360 –> 00:39:02.800
like Sam mentioned, um,
610
00:39:03.150 –> 00:39:06.080
kind of minimally processed type of product that we could,
611
00:39:06.080 –> 00:39:08.640
that you could do really simply kind of at a processor. Um,
612
00:39:09.300 –> 00:39:13.480
and we did find some, some, some effect and some pulling out, but I,
613
00:39:13.520 –> 00:39:15.800
I don’t think it was enough. Um, the,
614
00:39:15.980 –> 00:39:18.320
the p a a did have a very fascinating effect,
615
00:39:18.400 –> 00:39:22.240
I thought on the iodine release because there was a lot of it coming out. It,
616
00:39:22.300 –> 00:39:25.800
it was really the only one that I could pull that I got iodine out. Um,
617
00:39:26.180 –> 00:39:30.730
and also the seaweed had a, uh, the bio load on it I think was really,
618
00:39:30.730 –> 00:39:35.090
really high. Um, it, it really rapidly depleted our ozone, for example, in,
619
00:39:35.090 –> 00:39:36.250
in the containers that we tested.
620
00:39:36.750 –> 00:39:40.890
And so there’s also kind of a bio load combination that you kind of need to,
621
00:39:41.190 –> 00:39:45.090
you need to oxidize the product, you need to force it to release, um,
622
00:39:45.090 –> 00:39:48.690
some salt and semi iodine while at the same time not over oxidizing it and
623
00:39:48.690 –> 00:39:50.890
making it release everything. Um, and,
624
00:39:50.890 –> 00:39:52.730
and kind of turning to mush at the end of the day.
625
00:39:52.830 –> 00:39:54.650
And so when we did that testing,
626
00:39:54.790 –> 00:39:58.170
we didn’t kind of follow that through to shelf life. Um,
627
00:39:58.590 –> 00:40:02.850
but based off of what I saw, I I think the methods that we tested, um,
628
00:40:03.250 –> 00:40:08.130
wouldn’t really render it, uh, in a not fresh product that it, it’s, it,
629
00:40:08.130 –> 00:40:11.410
it was acting kind of exactly like a fresh product still after we got done with
630
00:40:11.410 –> 00:40:15.010
it, which was really cool. Um, but I don’t think it did enough. And,
631
00:40:15.030 –> 00:40:18.010
and so it’s finding that happy medium. So if you look at,
632
00:40:18.590 –> 00:40:22.450
if you compare kelp to I think kind of any other fruit or veg, I,
633
00:40:22.490 –> 00:40:23.450
I call it the prestige.
634
00:40:23.450 –> 00:40:25.650
There’s a magic trick to every single one of these things.
635
00:40:25.990 –> 00:40:28.810
And once you hit the right magic trick, it works almost every time.
636
00:40:28.950 –> 00:40:33.570
And what I mean by that is there’s kind of a proper storage temp and humidity
637
00:40:34.070 –> 00:40:38.730
and processing, um, that render it a fresh product at the end of the day.
638
00:40:39.030 –> 00:40:43.210
And once you find kind of the correct, um, avenues and the correct test to do,
639
00:40:43.600 –> 00:40:47.410
they, they work like pretty much every time as long as, um, the,
640
00:40:47.470 –> 00:40:51.370
the starting kelp is at kind of a certain level, um, of quality.
641
00:40:52.030 –> 00:40:56.570
And so the goal would be to find that kind of goldilock zone, I call it. Um,
642
00:40:56.590 –> 00:41:01.290
trying to find the, the right test to release enough without making it too,
643
00:41:01.590 –> 00:41:04.890
um, without, you know, pulling out nutritional values and,
644
00:41:04.890 –> 00:41:06.770
and other pro problems down the line.
645
00:41:12.940 –> 00:41:17.170
Awesome. Thank you Eric. Um, Michael asked,
646
00:41:17.350 –> 00:41:21.450
did we look at what other minerals and nutrients we lost as a result of the
647
00:41:21.450 –> 00:41:25.170
various, uh, water dips? We did not. That is, uh,
648
00:41:25.360 –> 00:41:28.990
Yeah, that, unfortunately that wasn’t a part of this, unfortunately. Yeah,
649
00:41:29.210 –> 00:41:32.350
it wasn’t a part of this study design, but we, we have, and,
650
00:41:32.350 –> 00:41:34.760
and I don’t know know, Sam, what you’ve shared or what you’ve put together,
651
00:41:34.780 –> 00:41:38.240
but we have done a pretty comprehensive lit search and did kind of find,
652
00:41:38.780 –> 00:41:39.800
you know, your calciums,
653
00:41:39.800 –> 00:41:43.200
your irons were the first to kind of come out along with, um,
654
00:41:43.300 –> 00:41:45.800
the rest of kind of salt, for example. Um,
655
00:41:46.580 –> 00:41:50.440
and then following some truity and some other problems. So we are aware of it,
656
00:41:50.460 –> 00:41:52.080
but we didn’t test it as a part of this.
657
00:41:57.100 –> 00:42:00.940
I had a few internet connections at, uh, problems at the end of that, but no,
658
00:42:00.940 –> 00:42:01.773
thank you.
659
00:42:08.760 –> 00:42:13.540
Um, Mike, you’d ask about whether the blistering, uh, is,
660
00:42:13.560 –> 00:42:15.140
you said it’s aesthetically displeasing,
661
00:42:15.140 –> 00:42:18.900
but if the kelp is grounded to a powder, does it matter? I would say the,
662
00:42:19.080 –> 00:42:23.780
the answer to that is we don’t know. Basically, you know, we, or the,
663
00:42:23.840 –> 00:42:28.740
the suggestion that folks look at the nutrients before blistering and after
664
00:42:28.740 –> 00:42:31.020
blistering, we don’t really have a great sense of what,
665
00:42:31.530 –> 00:42:35.140
what else is happening as the blistering occurs. It’s clearly a,
666
00:42:35.220 –> 00:42:38.180
a stress response, but it is,
667
00:42:38.360 –> 00:42:41.740
is it releasing nutrients or otherwise degrading?
668
00:42:42.570 –> 00:42:46.660
Does blistered kelp have a lower shelf life than
669
00:42:47.800 –> 00:42:50.860
un blistered kelp? We don’t have the answer to those things. So I think I would,
670
00:42:51.920 –> 00:42:52.753
um,
671
00:42:52.790 –> 00:42:56.340
wanna do a little bit more research just before I said definitively whether it
672
00:42:56.340 –> 00:42:58.380
does or doesn’t have a longer term impact.
673
00:43:01.120 –> 00:43:04.340
Uh, this is Eric. I turned my video off. Hopefully you guys can hear me better.
674
00:43:04.680 –> 00:43:05.513
Um,
675
00:43:05.600 –> 00:43:09.850
my guess would be it probably once you kind of grind it up,
676
00:43:09.910 –> 00:43:13.490
my guess would be it wouldn’t be that much different. Um, the, the,
677
00:43:13.510 –> 00:43:18.050
the kind of blistering in the stress response we found seemed to be the seaweed
678
00:43:18.050 –> 00:43:21.330
trying to hold onto its nutrients and its moisture, um,
679
00:43:21.500 –> 00:43:26.050
while it was basically being abused. And, and, um, if you compare that,
680
00:43:26.230 –> 00:43:29.930
for example, to something like powdered spinach, powdered spinach, um,
681
00:43:30.080 –> 00:43:33.210
once you get it into a powdered form and kind of takes care of a lot of the
682
00:43:33.210 –> 00:43:36.570
problems that the spinach has, so they, they kind of feed, for example,
683
00:43:36.940 –> 00:43:41.370
heavy mildew products will go towards powdering, um, and, uh,
684
00:43:41.370 –> 00:43:44.810
heavy insect pressure will go towards powders and,
685
00:43:44.870 –> 00:43:49.570
and with pretty minimal effect on nutritional. Um, at the end of the day, um,
686
00:43:50.230 –> 00:43:54.290
the way I like to think about it is that the plant at the end, uh,
687
00:43:54.550 –> 00:43:57.810
is trying to hold onto everything it can. It’s trying to stay alive,
688
00:43:57.920 –> 00:44:00.690
it’s trying to continue its processes as best as possible,
689
00:44:01.510 –> 00:44:06.490
and it has a shocking kind of level of being able to do that through a lot
690
00:44:06.490 –> 00:44:10.290
of different stressors. And so my guess would be, it would be pretty minimal,
691
00:44:10.350 –> 00:44:11.930
but it would be, it would need to be tested.
692
00:44:16.930 –> 00:44:17.763
Thank you,
693
00:44:21.350 –> 00:44:24.000
Mike, you, uh, have asked about freezing.
694
00:44:24.180 –> 00:44:27.960
We did not look at freezing at all as part of this, uh, study,
695
00:44:28.180 –> 00:44:31.040
but that is actually a great segue to talking about,
696
00:44:31.040 –> 00:44:34.440
about our next farmer forum. Um,
697
00:44:35.670 –> 00:44:36.550
I guess I’ll, let me,
698
00:44:36.650 –> 00:44:40.470
let me pause and just ask if there are any other questions before we move
699
00:44:42.040 –> 00:44:44.200
wrapping up. We are still, we still have plenty of time,
700
00:44:44.520 –> 00:44:46.120
14 minutes if anyone else have any questions.
701
00:44:54.720 –> 00:44:59.210
This is, uh, Eric from Q Fresh again, i, I just wanna, um, put it in context.
702
00:44:59.590 –> 00:45:03.330
So for anyone that wasn’t on the call that Sam mentioned last year,
703
00:45:03.400 –> 00:45:05.170
what we did last year with, um,
704
00:45:05.280 –> 00:45:08.530
with Kelp was that we looked at the fresh aspects of kelp.
705
00:45:08.870 –> 00:45:11.930
And so we took kelp that was harvested on the East coast,
706
00:45:12.310 –> 00:45:14.530
and we looked at respiration rates.
707
00:45:14.550 –> 00:45:18.410
So we looked at that several different times throughout the season and kind of
708
00:45:18.410 –> 00:45:20.290
how the product did in packaging.
709
00:45:20.550 –> 00:45:23.930
And then we also did some kind of rudimentary shelf life studies inside of
710
00:45:23.930 –> 00:45:28.090
packaging, basically seeing, hey, does kelp act like, uh,
711
00:45:28.190 –> 00:45:31.330
fruits and vegetables or, or, or does it act completely independently?
712
00:45:31.910 –> 00:45:36.690
And what we found and what led to the research that we did this year was
713
00:45:36.690 –> 00:45:41.650
that it had a phenomenal shelf life in, in a modified atmosphere package, um,
714
00:45:42.410 –> 00:45:44.370
14 plus days of shelf life in a,
715
00:45:44.370 –> 00:45:49.130
in a package at kind of typical cold chain that you would look at for like a bag
716
00:45:49.130 –> 00:45:53.090
spinach. And, and so that’s what led into the, the studies that we did on this.
717
00:45:53.510 –> 00:45:57.730
And, um, I, I think Sam has that available, um, to share,
718
00:45:58.230 –> 00:46:03.210
but I think pretty remarkable results on the shelf life side. And so to me it’s,
719
00:46:03.240 –> 00:46:06.330
it’s figuring out can we lower the salt, can we lower the iodine?
720
00:46:06.390 –> 00:46:11.090
Can we get some of the biofouling out while still keeping it in that good shelf
721
00:46:11.090 –> 00:46:14.170
life form that we found without doing any of that processing?
722
00:46:14.350 –> 00:46:18.170
That’s kind of the end goal for me to understand. And so, um,
723
00:46:18.240 –> 00:46:21.650
that was some of the research that we did last year that kind of fed into to
724
00:46:21.650 –> 00:46:22.483
what we did this year.
725
00:46:26.810 –> 00:46:30.180
Thanks, Eric. That’s great context. Um, Evie,
726
00:46:32.500 –> 00:46:34.950
Yeah, thanks Sam. I just wanted to, um,
727
00:46:35.420 –> 00:46:39.270
respond to Mike’s question about freezing. We have, um,
728
00:46:39.650 –> 00:46:43.270
frozen kelp as a way to, um,
729
00:46:43.740 –> 00:46:47.910
suspend the freshness before drawing it for the last two seasons.
730
00:46:48.370 –> 00:46:52.960
And what we found is, um, in terms of the,
731
00:46:54.300 –> 00:46:59.080
the qualities that we can see, we haven’t tested nutrient difference between,
732
00:46:59.620 –> 00:47:04.440
um, directly dried kelp versus frozen, then dried kelp. Um,
733
00:47:04.580 –> 00:47:09.320
but in terms of the other qualities of smell, taste, appearance,
734
00:47:09.500 –> 00:47:13.800
um, we don’t see, um, a big difference.
735
00:47:14.060 –> 00:47:16.800
We don’t see a difference in the kelp that we’ve frozen.
736
00:47:17.270 –> 00:47:21.840
What I will say is that it’s more difficult to handle, um, once it’s frozen,
737
00:47:21.980 –> 00:47:23.720
it comes, once it’s thawed, it’s,
738
00:47:23.750 –> 00:47:28.520
it’s more stuck together and it’s a little bit, um, more difficult to get into,
739
00:47:28.820 –> 00:47:33.120
um, the dryer and take the next step.
740
00:47:36.850 –> 00:47:41.340
Okay, thank you for that. Mm-hmm. Sam,
741
00:47:41.420 –> 00:47:42.253
I got one more.
742
00:47:43.640 –> 00:47:44.330
Go ahead.
743
00:47:44.330 –> 00:47:47.100
Yeah, I think you covered all the steps, but could you maybe recap,
744
00:47:47.240 –> 00:47:51.540
so if I wanna save a small portion of my, um, harvest for,
745
00:47:51.960 –> 00:47:55.620
to set for, to be fresh and to deliver to restaurants,
746
00:47:56.570 –> 00:47:59.340
what would that process look like in terms of, you know,
747
00:47:59.340 –> 00:48:02.020
harvesting blanching or otherwise, um,
748
00:48:03.300 –> 00:48:06.500
stabilizing and then packaging such that, you know,
749
00:48:06.520 –> 00:48:10.980
it would last a couple of days until I can get it there or while they use it.
750
00:48:11.980 –> 00:48:15.200
Can, is that a easy, is that fairly easy to kind of recap that?
751
00:48:16.660 –> 00:48:21.110
Yeah. Um, this is not intended to be a start to finish process,
752
00:48:21.290 –> 00:48:25.150
but we can kind of use it to, to, to talk through. Um,
753
00:48:26.140 –> 00:48:26.973
yeah, so,
754
00:48:29.040 –> 00:48:32.860
so first and foremost, you know,
755
00:48:32.920 –> 00:48:37.820
if you’re selling it for food, you, you do need to have a, um,
756
00:48:38.820 –> 00:48:41.700
a, a plan for how you’re gonna keep that food safe the whole time. And again,
757
00:48:41.760 –> 00:48:44.020
sea Grant has a ton of great resources and Michael,
758
00:48:44.140 –> 00:48:46.500
I see that if you’re still on and if you wanna drop,
759
00:48:46.960 –> 00:48:49.980
you wanna drop anything in the chat about this Sea Grants resources on the food
760
00:48:49.980 –> 00:48:53.540
safety side, that would be awesome. Um, there, there, you know,
761
00:48:53.560 –> 00:48:56.300
you will need to keep it clean, keep everything on your boat clean, you know,
762
00:48:56.300 –> 00:48:59.300
have a plan for how that’s all gonna be handled, same, same as you would with,
763
00:48:59.300 –> 00:49:01.740
with shellfish or any other kind of food. Um,
764
00:49:04.200 –> 00:49:08.540
the, uh, you know, as far as the physical handling goes,
765
00:49:08.640 –> 00:49:13.100
you’re gonna wanna harvest on these days with, with cooler air temperatures,
766
00:49:13.170 –> 00:49:16.740
prevent direct sunlight, contact fresh water contact,
767
00:49:17.000 –> 00:49:21.660
and try to keep the kelp fluffy. That is not a technical term. That is,
768
00:49:22.010 –> 00:49:25.780
that is what everyone in the industry agrees. And, and as we’ve just seen,
769
00:49:25.850 –> 00:49:28.980
it’s about, it’s about that ventilation, that access to air.
770
00:49:29.040 –> 00:49:33.700
So you’re gonna wanna keep it with access to air as much as possible. Um,
771
00:49:33.880 –> 00:49:38.060
so that means ventilated storage containers, perforated plastic bags,
772
00:49:39.320 –> 00:49:42.500
um, perforated bins with a plastic shroud with little holes punched in it,
773
00:49:42.740 –> 00:49:46.620
whatever. But it’s gotta be this like sweet spot of cold
774
00:49:52.320 –> 00:49:56.730
sitting, standing water, definitely not standing. Um, and,
775
00:49:56.750 –> 00:49:59.010
and that’s really it. Like, you know, there,
776
00:49:59.010 –> 00:50:03.170
there is not that much as a raw agricultural product that you need to do other
777
00:50:03.170 –> 00:50:06.410
than keeping it cold and keeping it clean. Um,
778
00:50:06.710 –> 00:50:11.190
in terms of getting it directly to, to chefs,
779
00:50:11.690 –> 00:50:14.230
um, you know, there, uh,
780
00:50:14.730 –> 00:50:17.390
are some food safety considerations around, you know,
781
00:50:17.390 –> 00:50:19.830
making sure people know that, that it,
782
00:50:19.860 –> 00:50:23.390
that it is raw and that they may wanna cook it. Um, but
783
00:50:25.100 –> 00:50:28.240
it, it is not a complicated, a complicated process.
784
00:50:31.200 –> 00:50:33.410
Okay, thank you. Michael, I don’t know if you, is Michael still on?
785
00:50:33.410 –> 00:50:34.330
Does he wanna say anything else?
786
00:50:35.380 –> 00:50:37.280
Uh, sure I can chime in.
787
00:50:37.360 –> 00:50:41.280
I did put a link to the seaweed resources that we have through New York Sea
788
00:50:41.280 –> 00:50:42.760
Grant. You can also find a bunch of others,
789
00:50:42.860 –> 00:50:47.240
not necessarily all safety specific on the Seaweed Hub website. Um,
790
00:50:47.940 –> 00:50:51.040
but we’ve been doing a lot of work on better understanding the regulatory
791
00:50:51.040 –> 00:50:54.640
framework around bringing seaweeds to market and as well as understanding the
792
00:50:54.640 –> 00:50:58.960
hazards associated with those and the controls so that the emerging industry can
793
00:50:58.960 –> 00:51:02.400
effectively develop food safety plans to address the various, um,
794
00:51:02.430 –> 00:51:04.200
hazards associated with seaweeds.
795
00:51:04.680 –> 00:51:08.160
I think the biggest sticking point has been the environmental chemicals, um,
796
00:51:08.160 –> 00:51:11.520
because there aren’t standards in place, understand what are the thresholds,
797
00:51:11.520 –> 00:51:15.600
what should we be testing for, how much should we be testing for? Uh,
798
00:51:15.600 –> 00:51:18.720
we did just put out one, uh, a guides specific for New York,
799
00:51:18.920 –> 00:51:21.600
although it might be relevant outside of New York. You’ll just have to look, uh,
800
00:51:21.600 –> 00:51:26.360
work with your agencies to determine what particular chemicals are of
801
00:51:26.960 –> 00:51:31.440
relevance in your waters, um, because it’s not the same from place to place. Um,
802
00:51:31.500 –> 00:51:35.160
but some of the more general ones were taken from kind of a global analysis of
803
00:51:35.160 –> 00:51:35.560
what are the,
804
00:51:35.560 –> 00:51:39.480
the major food safety hazards that have been associated with seaweeds. Um,
805
00:51:40.020 –> 00:51:42.760
you know, and I think it does need to remain on your minds. ’cause the,
806
00:51:42.760 –> 00:51:45.000
the big thing is that you’re, you’re talking about quality,
807
00:51:45.060 –> 00:51:47.440
but it’s not a quality product if it’s not safe to eat.
808
00:51:47.580 –> 00:51:51.120
So safety and quality are really kind of tied in there and linked. Um,
809
00:51:51.180 –> 00:51:52.360
so making sure that you’re,
810
00:51:52.360 –> 00:51:55.720
you’re keeping that in mind and understanding that you’re working with a food,
811
00:51:55.980 –> 00:51:58.440
um, when you’re harvesting and handling these products.
812
00:52:04.050 –> 00:52:05.760
Thank you, Michael. Appreciate it.
813
00:52:09.970 –> 00:52:13.020
Okay, well thank you for all the awesome questions, guys.
814
00:52:13.020 –> 00:52:17.020
That was really great and all the chiming in of other folks to answer it.
815
00:52:17.020 –> 00:52:21.740
This is exactly what we hoped farmer forums would be like. So appreciate it.
816
00:52:22.600 –> 00:52:27.380
Um, so speaking of freezing, our next, uh,
817
00:52:27.460 –> 00:52:30.780
farmer forum is going to be November 9th, and
818
00:52:31.470 –> 00:52:33.740
We’re gonna be talking about
819
00:52:34.820 –> 00:52:39.020
Stabilization. Uh, and so we’re gonna talk about current and emerging methods,
820
00:52:39.480 –> 00:52:41.020
um, uh, to talk about freezing.
821
00:52:41.480 –> 00:52:44.820
And if there is anyone who knows about freezing at scale, it is, it is them,
822
00:52:44.820 –> 00:52:47.460
that is their, the, the primary way that they,
823
00:52:47.600 –> 00:52:50.660
the first thing that they do before getting into any of their other processing.
824
00:52:51.160 –> 00:52:53.900
Um, we’re also gonna have folks talking about drying, um,
825
00:52:54.640 –> 00:52:57.340
and then some emerging methods like chemical stabilization.
826
00:52:58.240 –> 00:53:01.940
And then the last farmer form of the year is about producer cooperatives,
827
00:53:01.940 –> 00:53:06.100
and that will be on December 14th. Um, in, as we head into 2024,
828
00:53:06.100 –> 00:53:08.500
we’re going to get, be getting back into the water. Um,
829
00:53:08.500 –> 00:53:11.700
our director of training and support, Lindsay Olsson will be back at that point.
830
00:53:11.800 –> 00:53:13.020
And we will be, uh,
831
00:53:13.050 –> 00:53:17.800
getting into nitty gritty details about farming and then,
832
00:53:18.220 –> 00:53:22.600
um, harvesting as we head into the spring. And I did also wanna call out,
833
00:53:22.840 –> 00:53:26.600
especially because today’s topic with a little bit of a crossover topic between
834
00:53:26.600 –> 00:53:28.800
farming and, and post harvest
835
00:53:30.660 –> 00:53:31.760
and processing,
836
00:53:32.510 –> 00:53:37.280
that we are launching a new series in 2024 that
837
00:53:37.380 –> 00:53:41.640
is for folks who are about, uh, you know,
838
00:53:41.640 –> 00:53:46.400
everything from product development to marketing products. And, um,
839
00:53:46.980 –> 00:53:49.680
we really hope that some of you will come check out this series as well.
840
00:53:49.740 –> 00:53:52.640
It starts in February and runs through August.
841
00:53:55.000 –> 00:53:59.200
And that’s it. So thank you everyone for coming and, uh,
842
00:53:59.200 –> 00:54:03.720
we hope to see you on the Hub and at our future webinars.
843
00:54:03.720 –> 00:54:04.553
Thank you so much.
844
00:54:05.510 –> 00:54:07.470
Thanks, Adam. Thank you.
845
00:54:09.900 –> 00:54:10.370
Thank you.