Møreforsking (MF) is the largest non-profit regional institute in Norway, with offices in Ålesund, Molde and Kristiansund. The institute conduct applied research on topics related to marine- and social sciences, transport economy and logistics. We contribute to sustainable resource management, innovation and value creation through research and knowledge production in collaboration with industrial clusters in the region, public sector, as well as national and international research institutions. The institute is interdisciplinary and supply research reflecting both international, national, and regional priority areas.
MF possess various laboratory facilities, including laboratory for chemical and molecular analysis, a facility for live marine organisms and a process laboratory for conservation, storage, and primary processing. Complete lab-facilities for characterization and proximate chemical composition of marine raw-materials, protein/peptide profiling by UPLC, combined with large scale fractionation by FPLC for purification of bioactive proteins, peptides or carbohydrates, physicochemical and microbiology analysis. MF is the project owner of SusKelpFood with Pierrick Stévant as the Project Manager and Arne Duinker as the CO-project leader.
The Institute of Marine Research (IMR) is one of the biggest marine research institutes in Europe, with about 1,100 employees. Our main activities are research, advisory work and monitoring. In January 2018, the IMR was merged with NIFES – the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research. The new institute will be a leading supplier of knowledge relating to the sustainable management of the resources in our marine ecosystems and the whole food chain from the sea to the table. Our head office is in Bergen. We also have an office in Tromsø and research stations in Matre, Austevoll and, Flødevigen. Our Research Vessel Department has ownership responsibility for the research vessels, which are our most important tools for collecting marine data. The IMR also has several laboratories that analyse the samples taken by its monitoring and research programmes.
Through its research and advice, the IMR seeks to help society to continue exploiting the valuable assets in the sea sustainably. We are a neutral knowledge provider, and we publicise our research results both in Norway and internationally. The IMR is affiliated to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, which also provides around half of our funding. The rest of our funding comes from external research grants.
In SusKelpFood, IMR is participating as co-project manager, leading WP2 on product safety and retention of nutrients and also contributes in WP2 with analysis of iodine, vitamins, trace elements and minerals.
Arctic Seaweed Processing AS was established in 2018 in Øygarden, Norway. We specialize in solutions and technology services for pre-processing and stabilization of freshly harvested seaweed. Our role in SusKelpFood is to contribute with commercial macroalgae production and processing.
DTU Food is the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, with 330 employees do research and advicing. DTU are also are in the front line of healthy, safe and sustainable food production, thereby preventing diseases and promote health, develop new and better foods for a growing population and create sustainable technological solutions.
This also apply to the seaweed research where there is a focus on developing guidelines for a safe seaweed, retaining the healthy bioactive compounds, and trying to decrease the potential toxic elements. We are around 20 experts that research in the optimization of cultivation, stability, preservation, extraction and analytical methods for the seaweed and the ingredients. We are involved in the EFSA and EU standardization and also including the microbial and chemical risk assessment of seaweed and ingredients.
This knowledge we bring into SusKelpFood, but also will develop in this project especially on the chemical risk assessment, vitamins and also the processing techniques with our focus on the blanching and fermentation.
Lofoten Blue Harvest is a company that cultivates seaweed in Lofoten, not far from Svolvaer in Vagan municipality. We started in 2015, and have been steadily increasing production every year. The current season is different from any of the previous ones however, as we do not have any normal production this year, only development projects. Our main project, and goal for the future, is to develop a new production system that will bring the costs of production down significantly. We aim to solve many of the logistical challenges in the production chain that we are currently facing. We are also taking part in SusKelpFood as the northernmost biomass producer in the project. Our role is to supply seaweed from our farms to the project.
Matis ltd. – Icelandic Food and Biotech R&D is a public commercial food research company working on a diverse array of projects spanning the entire food/ingredient value chain. Matis´ long term strategic vision is to increase the value, quality and safety of food and ingredients through sustainable production practices, cutting edge R&D and innovation, new business models as well as effectively disseminating and commercializing the knowledge generated. Matis plays a significant role in food science and biotech education, both locally and internationally, and functions as a bridge between academia and companies. Matis has coordinated and participated in numerous national, Nordic and EU funded projects.
Matis role in SusKelpFood is related to work package 3 on sensory profiling, characterisation of flavour compounds and flavour development during storage of seaweed.
Nofima is Europe's largest business-oriented research institute with around 400 employees who conduct research and development for the aquaculture industry, the fishing industry and the food industry.
In collaboration with our customers, we deliver internationally recognized research and solutions that provide a competitive advantage along the entire value chain. Nofima's most important task is to increase the business players' competitiveness through in-depth knowledge of the food industries, thorough research and a good understanding of solutions. Nofima has research expertise for the entire value chain within both the blue and green sectors.
Our customers and industry organizations come from the Aquaculture industry, the Fisheries industry, the Land and sea-based food industry, the Ingredient industry and the Pharmaceutical industry.
Nofima AS is headquartered in Tromsø, and has research activities in Bergen, Stavanger, Sunndalsøra, Tromsø and Ås.
In SusKelpFood, Dagbjørn Skipnes is responsible for work package 1 on processing. The work takes place mainly at the department in Stavanger, which has a pilot plant with a wide range of processing machinery used in the project for everything from pre-treatment (pulsed electric fields, mechanical dewatering, blanching, fermentation) to further processing (drying by convection, microwaves, etc.) and onwards. for the integration of kelp in various foods. The department also has a broad park of analytical equipme
Ocean Forest AS is Norway's largest producer of cultivated seaweed (sugar kelp and winged kelp) located at the west coast of Norway. Ocean forest AS was established in 2013 as a result of collaboration between Lerøy Seafood Group ASA and the Norwegian NGO Bellona. We are contributing to SusKelpFood with our knowledge about cultivation, harvesting and processing seaweed, and how this can affect the final quality of the product. We find it very important to improve existing, and establish new processing methods for macroalgae in the food industry. Ocean Forest are also interested to study food safety in a larger context (incl. Allergens, microbial status, etc.) and sensory quality and consumer behaviour.
As part of SusKelpFood we will deliver biomass, contribute with knowledge and research, biomass experience and market insights.
Orkla Foods Norway have 9 production facilities in Norway and a total of around 1100 employees. The head office is located on Skøyen. The company is part of the Orkla Group. Orkla Foods Norway is one of the most complete food companies in Norway. Although we are a young company, we have deep historical roots. Many of our brands have defined flavours since their launch 60-70 years ago with examples such as Stabbur-Mackerel, Grandiosa, TORO and Nora. The food we make is re-selected every single day because consumers both like and trust it. This is a responsibility we take very seriously, and every day we manage and work to make our food even better and easier to like. By making healthy and good food, it is our vision at Orkla to be your friend every day! Orkla Foods Norway’s role in SusKelpFood are industrial food production and processing, sensory analysis and consumer analysis.
TANGO Seaweed is a knowledge driven seaweed farmer located at the west coast of Norway. We cultivate seaweed according to nature’s principles and sell high quality seaweed for human consumption. Currently, we hold two cultivation licenses and – aside from a sea farm in Herøy municipality – we have our land-based production facility and offices in Haugsbygda, Sande municipality (both Møre & Romsdal County). The company was founded in 2016 by Annelise Chapman and Bjørn Otterlei. In addition to 2.5 permanent and 7-8 seasonal employees (app. 3.5 FTEs), we work closely with an active Board of Directors and an international group of shareholders who represent the entire value chain and various competence (R&D) and industry networks. We consider the diversity of people associated with TANGO Seaweed as one of our major strengths.
Our environmental ambitions, operating in a Cradle-to-Cradle circular design framework, guide us in everything we do – starting with the choice of cultivation sites and production technology to harvesting and processing. We aim to deliver tasty kelp from clean Norwegian coastal waters with traceable production and unique quality being our hallmark. The company’s core team members have extensive knowledge and experience from marine ecology and coastal zone management, paired with a passionate commitment to developing a new positive impact value chain based on seaweed cultivation within the marine environment.
Our core operational activities are cultivation, stabilization, pre-processing and defining quality of seaweed (all in relation to our biomass as food ingredient).
As part of SusKelpFood we will deliver biomass and take part in experiments, as well as contribute with our previous research experience and market insights.
