Quality Assurance

Food Safety

Ocean’s Balance seaweeds are USDA Certified Organic by MOFGA, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Our employees are HACCP-certified and our production facility is SQF-certified.  We take food safety seriously and stand by our commitment to provide the highest quality product produced by trained employees in a rigorously managed facility. 

Microbial Safety

We test our products to ensure they are free of food borne pathogens, as well as common 
spoilage organisms, to ensure consumer safety. 
All microbial testing of our products is completed by 3rd party laboratory partners, all of 
whom are ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited.

Heavy Metals

Seaweed is naturally absorbent, which means it absorbs minerals in their growing 
environment, which includes heavy metals. Fortunately, our seaweed is grown in the
waters of the North Atlantic, which is closely monitored for contaminants such as heavy 
metals by institutes such as the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. 
To ensure that our products do not contain excessive amounts of heavy metals, we again 
rely on our 3rd party laboratory partners to test for heavy metals in our harvest. 

Water Activity

We test each batch of seaweed we process for water activity. Water activity measures the 
availability of water in a product. This parameter is important because below certain levels, 
there is not enough water to support microbial growth. In our quest to provide the safest 
possible product, we ensure that water activity is at levels that do not support microbial 
pathogen growth and do not support the growth of microorganisms. 

Proposition 65 and Seaweed

We understand that the Proposition 65 warning label on our products may cause concern. 
However, the Proposition 65 label doesn’t necessarily mean that a product is violation of 
the rule. Seaweed may contain trace amounts of heavy metals due to its natural growing 
environment and the fact that seaweed is very absorbent by nature. While heavy metals do occur in seaweed, the levels are very low. 

We do test our seaweed for heavy metals. However, because California’s Proposition 65 
regulation sets such stringent thresholds—often hundreds of times lower than other 
regulatory limits—even trace levels can trigger a warning. We chose to label our products 
with the Proposition 65 warning: not because they are unsafe, but because we believe in 
full transparency.

You have the right to know what’s in your food, and we fully support that. Ultimately, it's up to you to make the best decision for yourself

Disclaimer

As we noted earlier, seaweed has been consumed safely for thousands of years, but not everyone reacts to foods in the same way because of particular health conditions and specific biochemistry.  We recommend consulting with your healthcare provider if you are unsure about eating seaweed. We have presented information that we believe to be accurate and reliable, but it is not guaranteed as a condition of sale. Nor do we make any warranty, express or implied, or assume any liability whatsoever for the information and products described herein.