Atlantic Canadian commercial seaweeds: food product development and sensory evaluation

食用海藻代表着一种成分独特的植物成分，在大西洋加拿大收获，然而，它们在加拿大的消费量非常有限。该项目将与加拿大领先的Acadian海洋植物有限公司(ASL)合作实施，该公司将海藻生产和生物加工成人类消费的增值产品、宠物食品和牲畜饲料产品，以及旨在促进植物生长和作物产量的配料。由ASL以Hana TsunomataTM为商标进行商业化的名为Chondrus CRISPUS的海藻产品已经在日本市场上取得了成功。虽然海藻含有丰富的微量营养素成分和多种生物活性成分，但由于缺乏养殖经验和烹饪用途，其在加拿大的消费明显有限。更好地了解海藻的感官特征，包括它们的视觉外观、味道、适口性、味道和质地，以及它们对身体舒适和饱腹感的影响，将有助于制定一系列可以引入和接受加拿大饮食模式的功能食品。最近推出的新版加拿大食品指南以促进植物成分的消费而闻名，这与对可食用海藻、它们的感官特性以及可以加入它们的食物种类的探索产生了共鸣。该项目将为商业海藻的感官特征及其作为功能食品配料的潜力带来新的知识。该项目的创新部分是使用国内生产的海藻设计新产品，并评估其感官特性，这是以前没有评估过的。这项研究将为开发包括国内生产的海藻成分并供加拿大人消费的美味食品提供新的方向。

Edible seaweeds represent plant ingredients with a unique composition and are harvested in Atlantic Canada, however, their consumption in Canada is very limited. This project will be conducted in collaboration with Acadian Seaplants Limited (ASL), a leading Canadian company in production and bioprocessing of seaweeds into the value-added products for human consumption, products for pet food and livestock feed, and ingredients designed to enhance plant growth and crop production. The seaweed products known as Chondrus crispus and commercialized by ASL under the trade name Hana TsunomataTM are already successful on the Japanese market. While seaweeds have rich micronutrient composition and multiple bioactive components, their consumption in Canada is significantly limited due to the lack of cultural experience and culinary use. A better understanding of the sensory characteristics of seaweeds including their visual appearance, taste, palatability, flavour and texture, as well as their effect on physical comfort and satiety, will help to formulate a broad range of functional foods that can be introduced and accepted into the Canadian dietary pattern. A recent introduction of the new edition of Canada's Food Guide known to promote the consumption of plant ingredients resonates with this exploration of edible seaweeds, their sensory properties and varieties of foods in which they can be incorporated. This project will result in new knowledge in sensory characteristics of commercial seaweeds and their potential as functional food ingredients. The innovative component of the project is the design of new products using domestically produced seaweeds and evaluation of their sensory properties that were not assessed before. This study will provide new directions for the development of tasty food products that will include domestically produced seaweed ingredients and be consumed by Canadians.