Jordà Food Group and The Seaweed Company join forces in seaweed product development

Two innovative food companies, Flemish food producer Jordà Food Group and seaweed cultivator, The Seaweed Company, from the Netherlands, have recently announced a new partnership. The strategic collaboration aims to combine the expertise of a seaweed cultivator and a food producer to develop, produce, and market healthy, sustainable, and delicious food products based on locally grown seaweed. Through this partnership, both companies strive to better serve the food-service industry with ready-to-use, sustainable, and healthy food ingredients.

Annually, nearly 25 million tons of seaweed is grown and harvested worldwide, with 98% of it in Asia. Most of it is consumed in Asia as a food source due to its unique flavor and rich essential nutrients. Although seaweed consumption is a daily habit in Asia, the seaweed sector in Europe is still in its infancy.

As an innovative and sustainable food ingredient, seaweed offers many benefits and opportunities commercially, nutritionally, and ecologically due to its richness in healthy and essential nutrients such as proteins, minerals, vitamins, and Omega-3 fatty acids. This has been increasingly recognized by the Western food industry. Seaweed is one of the most sustainable food ingredient available to further enhance our food consumption's sustainability. Seaweed is one of the fastest-growing crops, absorbing significant amounts of CO2 from the sea, which can contribute to addressing current climate issues.

Jordà Food Group is a pioneer in producing sweet and savory crispy toppings within the food-service industry under the Jordà brand. Among Jordà's extensive range of flavors, there are already products with dried seaweed, albeit sourced from Asia (such as Nori). However, to promote seaweed as a food ingredient in Europe, Jordà recently decided to exclusively use locally grown seaweeds in their product lineup. Alongside this decision, they have also introduced three seaweed products to the market, including Crispy Wasabi Furikake toppings, Japanese-style panko, and Phytoplankton emulsion, which have garnered significant interest from chefs and are already available in wholesale outlets.

Expanding upon its roots in Asian cuisine, Jordà has developed a variant with crunchy elements, using locally grown seaweeds and even products based on microalgae from the Oosterschelde estuary.

This positive step and the opportunities seaweed offers for healthy seasoning mixes and snacks have led Jordà to work exclusively with locally grown seaweed from The Seaweed Company and release them under their retail brand Topp'd. The Seaweed Company manages the entire seaweed supply chain, from cultivation to processing, providing direct access to seaweed for customers.

The Seaweed Company has invested in various seaweed farms in recent years. This collaboration aims to provide every chef in Europe with access to locally grown seaweed.

The Seaweed Company's mission is to make the food chain healthier. With its SeaMeat products, it primarily focuses on collaborations in the food-service industry to make our meat consumption more sustainable. Seaweed blend SeaMeat makes hybrid meat products truly delicious. Burgers with 75% meat and 25% seaweed, introduced by various meat companies, are now available in restaurants and supermarkets in Belgium and the Netherlands.

“Our chefs have long known that seaweed is a very unique, versatile, and sustainable ingredient," commented Maarten Jordaens, Chief Crumble Officer at Jordá Food Group. "Thanks to the mild umami flavor of seaweed sourced from The Seaweed Company, products like meat or toppings become even more delicious and full of flavor. For the launch of our collaboration, we've worked on a crispy variant of the well-known Japanese 'Furikake' seasoning mix finished with local seaweeds, which can be used as a topping for items like reduced-meat burgers or Asian dishes. A top product to savor, if we say so ourselves.”

“Jordà's products are beautiful and unique," added Sanne Jansen, Business Developer Food at The Seaweed Company. "Additionally, they have a fantastic network among restaurant chefs. This makes us very pleased with this collaboration, which gives both Jordà's products and our SeaMeat extra attention.”