Is it really possible to get vegan seaweed?

[Queen Bean]

Every seaweed product I've seen has 'may contain traces of crustacea' at the bottom. Does anyone know whethere it is really possible to get vegan seaweed (especially in Australia)?

I'm 39 now and haven't eaten fish since I was 16. I ate some nori when I was around 26 and automatically threw up.

I'd like to sprinkle dulse on my salad, because I've read of the benefits of sea vegetables, but think it may be quite difficult to remove all crustacea/shellfish before processing.

[MysticTree]

Probably the best way would be to learn to pick seaweeds yourself. You can then be sure you haven't anything with the seaweed that you don't want to eat. Incidentally there don't seem to be such warnings on UK seaweed packaging - perhaps the labeling laws are different

[Queen Bean]

Thanks MysticTree

I have emailed the company, but have yet to hear back (they are called Power Superfoods).

The product is labelled Vegan, but has this allergy warning...

ALLERGY WARNING: May contain trace amounts crustacean shellfish

A question to vegans. Would you eat this dulse? Is this allergy warning the equivalent to an ant walking over a leaf (I mean if some people had major allergic reactions to ants, lettuce sellers may have to put 'Allergy Warning: May contain trace amounts ants.)

I am confused as to whether this product is acceptably vegan or not. Would you eat it?

[DebB]

I can't say that I'm a huge seaweed consumer, but I've had several kinds and to be honest, I've never found any type of animal life on it... So yes, personally I would eat it.

The only thing I'm more careful with is Irish Moss - it takes a while to rinse it to get off all the sand. *Ü*

[Queen Bean]

Here is the message I received from the manufacturer. If you're a vegan, would you eat it? Does anyone who eats sea vegetables (I've never been into them before, but am thinking that maybe they'd be a useful addition to my diet) have a preference for dulse over wakame or vice versa? Thanks

Hi Michele - Our Wakame is certified Kosher which as you probably know, means there is no detectable presence of shellfish. While our Dulse and Nori come with a crustacean allergy warning as they are not certified 'free-from', it may interest you to know that both are handharvested in rowboats from the tidal zone for minimal interference with sea creatures, then sundried for a very low carbon footprint.

Many vegans consume all our sea vegetable products, but it's entirely up to you how 'strict' you are! Yours in health, The PSF Team

[MysticTree]

yes I would but I am a someone following a raw vegan diet rather than a vegan first and foremost.

[siennagray]

Queen Bean, I think the reason is, as you hypothesized, due to the severe shellfish allergies some people have.

Beyond that, for vegan concerns, it would seem to me like the equivalent of not eating fruits or vegetables due to the possibility that there could be insects in/on them that don't get washed off. Personally, I would be very comfortable with this product. The fact that the company has confirmed they do hand harvesting suggests a much less likely incidence of contamination than a mechanized process. However, as I have aquarium shrimp, I will say that the babies start out smaller than a mosquito, so that could be another reason for the warning - it's hard to be confident you've removed all trace of things that can hardly be seen.

I hope you come up with a solution you feel comfortable with.

[MysticTree]

I've just ordered some seaweed today and hope it arrives soon. I am loving seaweed at the moment. I am particularly keen to try sea spaghetti. I ordered spirulina and purple laver and sugar kelp too.

[kaybee]

unfortunately, i find it impossible to obtain seaweed thats totally free of all animal life, EVEN if i hand harvest it :( i have spent hours rinsing seaweed in my sink before, through multiple washes of water, and trying to remove every creepy crawly thing on it with the intent of taking them back down to the beach, and even then, when i dehydrate it i still find some stray shells of little guys i missed. there are also soft/unshelled guys with blue dots on them that stick to the seaweed and are very difficult to get off. i havent had this problem with sea lettuce or kelp, but the dulse, and i think the bladderwrack too, are rife with this problem :( , at least where i source it from (southwest coast of ireland). maybe some commercial companies have ways of sourcing it or places to source it that are less covered with sea life than i do though... i dont know. it is a bit of a dilemma for me because i dont like to be dehydrating little guys :( same with when we use seaweed for fertilizer.. its often hopping with thousands of sandcrabs who dont survive when you transfer it to the veg garden ~:( im inclined to buy seaweed rather than harvest it myself because i dont have to deal with the sealife problem, but im probably just avoiding the problem by obtaining it already harvested and cleaned, after the "little guys" have been removed from it :/

[MysticTree]

unfortunately, i find it impossible to obtain seaweed thats totally free of all animal life, EVEN if i hand harvest it :( i have spent hours rinsing seaweed in my sink before, through multiple washes of water, and trying to remove every creepy crawly thing on it with the intent of taking them back down to the beach, and even then, when i dehydrate it i still find some stray shells of little guys i missed. there are also soft/unshelled guys with blue dots on them that stick to the seaweed and are very difficult to get off. i havent had this problem with sea lettuce or kelp, but the dulse, and i think the bladderwrack too, are rife with this problem :( , at least where i source it from (southwest coast of ireland). maybe some commercial companies have ways of sourcing it or places to source it that are less covered with sea life than i do though... i dont know. it is a bit of a dilemma for me because i dont like to be dehydrating little guys :( same with when we use seaweed for fertilizer.. its often hopping with thousands of sandcrabs who dont survive when you transfer it to the veg garden ~:( im inclined to buy seaweed rather than harvest it myself because i dont have to deal with the sealife problem, but im probably just avoiding the problem by obtaining it already harvested and cleaned, after the "little guys" have been removed from it :/

If you are harvesting from a beach then seaweed is a haven for the wildlife that is trying to escape the drying effects of the sun and wind and the beady eyes of predators. If you wade or swim out to submerged seaweed then this is really not a problem on the whole.

[kaybee]

but dulse only grows on rocks, in the intertidal zone, as far as im aware... :/ i use scizzors to cut it off of rocks it is growing on, so, no, not harvesting it from being washed up on the beach. lots of little guys seem to call it home though :/

[Queen Bean]

I've made a decision not to eat the dulse. It smells fishy compared to the wakame (that just smells vegetable-y). I can't quite get my head around something that is vegan, but may contain trace amounts of meat. Ugh...

[GreenLeaves]

I order seaweed online and usually it seemed ok. However, one order arrived reeking of fish even before the packages were opened. I didn't realize that that was from "sea life" still in the seaweed. So I washed some and washed off the critters and felt very ill after. (At the time I didn't realize I was washing off "critters." I thought it was something gross from the ocean. The company was not very nice about it and only let me return the unopened packages. They wanted me to cook it instead of returning it.

[MysticTree]

well my seaweeds arrived and whilst the website did not mention the possibility of crustacea in the seaweeds, the packets did. The website was keen to say how suitable their product was for vegans and vegetarians.

I opened the sea spaghetti and all was fine - it was delicious.

The kelp had the remains of barnacles and a sea snail in it. I emailed the company because this is not "a trace" this is weighable grams.

This is the reply I got from the company:-



Hi,
the marine life which is found occassionally which lives in our SeaVeg
should not be eaten, they are found because there is no chemical processing of
our products. It is however very rare to find these in the sugar kelp, they
are more common on the Sea Spaghetti.

Remove these by soaking in fresh water, or by picking them off.

These products are suitable for vegetarian and vegan diet, providing
a rich source of B group vitamins amongst others, but you should clean them
before eating.

Thanks
Mark


Now I find this absolutely staggering. I'll say it again STAGGERING! It's like making a sausage risotto and telling the non-meat eaters to pic out the bits they don't want.

There is not one word of an apology. Not the slightest notion that they understand what being a vegan means and that it is important to people that a company respects the way the customer eats. I have told them I won't buy from them again because their products aren't vegan and that they are misleading customers by not mentioning this on their website. I doubt I will hear back.

ps, the snail I could just about cope with but not the barnacles