Seaweed
producers can be found in several countries
particularly Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, India, Malaysia, and
China. The sea plant usually harvested
in the sea or coastal area or cultivated in the seaweed farms. Seaweed is no
longer limited product available only in Asian countries like Japan, Korea, or
China but now they are sold and distributed worldwide. In fact, seaweed becomes
one of the most important and larger aquamarine commodity in the export import
industry. Seaweed processed for wide variety of products including foods,
fertilizer, medicines both herbal and modern, beauty products, and many more.
Learn what kind of seaweed products processed by seaweed producers here!
Seaweed
products processed by seaweed producers
Seaweed producers processed the seaweeds for various products mainly for food source,
but they can be made into other necessity. Sometimes the producers or
manufacturers distributed and export raw seaweeds as well to various countries
which do not have an access for fresh raw seaweeds.
Now, it is important to understand more
about what kind of different products seaweeds are processed into such as:
1.
Food
It has been centuries
seaweeds become a part to make traditional Asian dishes such as seaweed soups.
Nowadays, seaweeds are processed into a lot of food products, for example nori
seaweed which used to wrap sushi roll or onigiri (rice balls), but now they are
being seasoned and then sold as crunchy snack with additional flavors. Of
course the original one is the best one which made with only seaweed, salt, and
oil. Another product is carrageenan extracted from red alga which used as
thickening agent to make ice cream, agar-agar, pudding, chocolate milk, and
many more. In addition, both brown and red seaweeds are used to process bakery
products, salad dressings, dairy products, candies, and so on. In conclusion,
seaweeds are not only produced as seafood, but also for other dishes.
2.
Pharmaceutical
It has been centuries that
seaweeds used as traditional medicines or herbs thanks to the nutrition content
in the seaweeds like iodine and antioxidant properties as well as other
minerals and vitamins that give healthy benefits for body while also treated
certain diseases. Furthermore, both algins and carrageenan are used as
emulsifiers, stabilizers, and binders or for creating molds. Even the dental
industry use seaweeds for molding preparations. Seaweeds can be used to treat
wound and to cure illnesses including cough, digestion problems like diarrhea
and constipation, and many more.
3.
Beauty products
Seaweed
producers also made the seaweeds as a part of beauty
products ingredient. Seaweeds can be used as skin care for example the whole
seaweed can be milled and then add to the bath water to make the skin smoother.
Moreover, seaweed paste or crushed seaweed is added to wide variety of facial
creams, facial mask, body creams and gels, shampoos, and many more.
Carrageenans are used for shampoos, toothpastes, skin cleaners, shaving products,
and hair conditioners. Meanwhile, alginate is added into many beauty products
like cosmetics.
4.
Fertilizer
Seaweed can be processed
into fertilizer and then applied to the garden soil. The sea plants can also
being made into seaweed extract or fertilizer meal after being dried and
grounded. Liquid fertilizer is one of the most common seaweed fertilizer
products which can be used for both commercial and home gardens. The seaweed
extract contains nutrition such as phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen which
useful for plant’s growth and thus they are great to be used.
5.
Science
Seaweed has playing
important role for science industry and for example, agar that derived from
some red algae cell walls has been used for bacteriological investigation since
1990. In more details, the bacterial are plated onto agar preparations in the
test tubes or petri dishes and then studied for science matter.
Last but not least, seaweed producers often use seaweeds as industrial products.
They can be presented in wide range of products such as dyes, paints, pigments,
and other finishes. They can even being used in fiber manufacturer including
filters, papers, textiles, and cardboard.