Microalgae looked at as future food source

A potential new food industry will be developed from native microalgae in Nelson with government backing investigations.

The $1.5 million collaboration between Cawthron, Kernohan Engineering and biotechnology nutrition start-up NewFish, will see around 100 strains of microalgae from Cawthron’s culture collection investigated for nutritional properties.

Oceans and Fisheries Minister Rachel Brooking announced funding of $750,000 during a visit to Nelson on Friday, to help scientists and businesses look at which of hundreds of strains of microalgae might be suitable for including in foods like protein bars and shakes. “Things are already improving for our seafood sector after a couple of hard years, with export revenue up about 8 per cent this year, to $2.1 billion,” Rachel says. “But we need to keep building for tomorrow. If we’re going to have more jobs and earn more money while protecting the environment, we’ve got to find ways of doing things differently.”

Global food demand is expected to increase by 60 per cent by 2050, and food security is threatened by issues like climate change, geopolitics and pests and diseases.

“That’s why the prospect of developing microalgae as a food source is exciting,” Rachel said. “It is a low-carbon protein which can be grown sustainably in bioreactors on land. It doesn’t compete with other type of farming for arable land and grows really fast, some of them doubling in size every day.”

The Government is providing $750,000 through its Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund toward the $1.5 million project with the Cawthron Institute, marine engineering company Kernohan Engineering and NewFish.

The money will be used to explore Cawthron’s collection of nearly 600 strains of microalgae, as well as collect new samples from rivers, lakes and the sea. NewFish will work with Kernohan Engineering to take the best microalgae strains and grow them on a commercial scale.

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