A seminar was held on 15 April, organised by the Bohuslän province, the Swedish partner of the LOCALEAT European cooperation project. Bringing together five different regions in France as well as Belgium, Finland and Sweden, LOCALEAT compared the experiences of regional stakeholders, so that practical solutions could be identified to make local food products an economic development driver.
It was a very concrete way to bring to life the European fraternity in a health context where exchanges are especially limited. The seminar, which was initially scheduled for April, took place remotely via video conference.
The example of a sweet kelp (royal kombu) producer
At this seminar, Swedish producers and companies presented their products and work with specific attention given to sea products. “The aim was to exchange contacts and ideas and offer the opportunity to draw inspiration from other European colleagues’ experiences,”, explains Gaëlle Penault, project manager for the town of Saint-Brieuc, one of the two French partners of LOCALEAT.
The participants, whom you may have been among since Sensalg’ relayed this event, were able to discover the company Bohus Seaculture for example, a new company that farms the brown seaweed Saccharina latissima, also known as sweet kelp. The company, located in the Gothenburg suburbs, farms off the coast, in Kattegat, a sea area between Denmark and Sweden. They also farm on land.
To discover the outlets of their production, check out the following video.
From Gothenburg to Gothenburg
Another Swedish company that produces seaweed also presented its business at the LOCALEAT seminar. This was Nordic SeaFarm which also farms laminaria near Gothenburg, as well as green seaweed and sea lettuce (currently being tested).
Royal kombu is processed through blanching/freezing or put in brine. This company immediately understood the well-known risk of iodine excess with royal kombu and sells seaweed with reduced iodine content.
Simon Johansson, the company’s young CEO talked about the current production, his business model, as well as the upcoming prospects in a video that was shown during the seminar, which you can watch again here.
To find out more, here are the links to these companies’ websites:
