Marine Macroalgae as a Safe Healthy Food While Meeting Food Security Challenges Arising From Climate Changes

ABSTRACT Against climate changes challenging the terrestrial food production, macroalgae serves as a nutrient rich healthy food with bioactive compounds. Macroalgae can reduce the environmental carbon dioxide through efficient photosynthesis. Populations in the equatorial, eastern, and coastal Europe consumed microalgae for centuries after primary processing. The interest in macroalgae belonging to the three phyla Phaeophyta (brown algae), Rhodophyta (red algae) and Chlorophyta (green algae) as a food source is growing. The species among the three phyla show varying capacities for production of food macronutrients and micronutrients. Many functional food components in macroalgae are associated with the three macronutrients. Macroalgae could be used to produce hybrid processed foods or to substitute for terrestrial plant foods. The food industries and the state organizations need to make concerted efforts to process marine macroalgae. There is a need to shift from the conventional primary processing to secondary processing, generating novel functional foods and ingredients. The existing information on potentially hazardous contaminants or inherent constituents in macroalgae, and the environmental impacts affecting economies, need attention. There is a need to expand on food regulations for macroalgae products, harmonizing them globally. Marketing strategies for novel macroalgal foods indicating their ability to improve metabbolic health of consumers are a necessity.