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Review
. 2023 Jan 19:9:1029841.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1029841. eCollection 2022.

Developing algae as a sustainable food source

Crisandra J Diaz  1 , Kai J Douglas  1 , Kalisa Kang  1 , Ashlynn L Kolarik  1 , Rodeon Malinovski  1 , Yasin Torres-Tiji  1 , João V Molino  1 , Amr Badary  1 , Stephen P Mayfield  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Developing algae as a sustainable food source

Crisandra J Diaz et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Current agricultural and food production practices are facing extreme stress, posed by climate change and an ever-increasing human population. The pressure to feed nearly 8 billion people while maintaining a minimal impact on the environment has prompted a movement toward new, more sustainable food sources. For thousands of years, both the macro (seaweed and kelp) and micro (unicellular) forms of algae have been cultivated as a food source. Algae have evolved to be highly efficient at resource utilization and have proven to be a viable source of nutritious biomass that could address many of the current food production issues. Particularly for microalgae, studies of their large-scale growth and cultivation come from the biofuel industry; however, this knowledge can be reasonably translated into the production of algae-based food products. The ability of algae to sequester CO2 lends to its sustainability by helping to reduce the carbon footprint of its production. Additionally, algae can be produced on non-arable land using non-potable water (including brackish or seawater), which allows them to complement rather than compete with traditional agriculture. Algae inherently have the desired qualities of a sustainable food source because they produce highly digestible proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates, and are rich in essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. Although algae have yet to be fully domesticated as food sources, a variety of cultivation and breeding tools exist that can be built upon to allow for the increased productivity and enhanced nutritional and organoleptic qualities that will be required to bring algae to mainstream utilization. Here we will focus on microalgae and cyanobacteria to highlight the current advancements that will expand the variety of algae-based nutritional sources, as well as outline various challenges between current biomass production and large-scale economic algae production for the food market.

Keywords: algae; biotechnology; breeding; cultivation; cyanobacteria; essential nutrient; genetic tools for microalgae; microalgae.

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Conflict of interest statement

SM was a founder of and hold an equity position in, Algenesis Inc. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The versatile markets for algae products (Created with Biorender.com).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Visual comparison of various algae cultivation methods (Created with Biorender.com).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Irradiation (UV) mutation, screening, and selection of microalgae cells (Created with Biorender.com).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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