Wageningen University: Survey for research project Safe Seaweed by Design
The Safe Seaweed by Design research project is launching a survey to determine the most important safety hazards in the seaweed industry. We invite you to help us by assessing a list of hazards and their impact on the safety of seaweed as food, the environmental safety and the safety of the workers in the seaweed industry.
We are experiencing a renaissance of seaweed. There are countless initiatives demonstrating its benefits. To pick a few: it is claimed that seaweed can combat climate change, by providing alternative fuel and sequestering carbon. Seaweed could be an important source of protein and it is also the newest must-have in the cosmetic industry. However, none of this matters, if there is a chance the workers involved in the seaweed value chain, the consumers (through the safety of seaweed as a food) or the environment are harmed in some way. The European seaweed industry is still in its infancy. With the growth of this sector we need safety protocols to help with the regulations.
Developing safety protocols
The Safe Seaweed by Design is a research project aimed at developing protocols to support the global seaweed sector in identifying, assessing, and mitigating food safety, environmental safety, and occupational health and safety. So far, we have identified hazards that may occur during seaweed harvesting and processing. The researchers involved are now working to prioritize hazards that need immediate attention when developing safety protocols for farmers and harvesting companies. These will be further developed, tested, and revised in this project.
The Safe Seaweed by Design project is funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation. Wageningen University and Research cooperates with Solent University (UK), Ocean University China, and Arctic Seaweed (Norway). Further collaboration with European, Chinese, and US seaweed producers and the Safe Seaweed Coalition is desired to create impact.
Survey details
The survey aims to determine the most important safety hazards for seaweed, by asking questions about food safety, environmental safety and occupational safety.
You are invited to answer all sections. Each section takes around 5-10 minutes to complete. The survey will be online until 15.08.2021. We welcome all participants and encourage managers and directors to invite their employees to participate in the survey.
The project results will be shared with those indicating that they would like to receive further information. The survey is in English and can be completed online using either the mobile phone or PC format.