Food Safety
Ocean’s Balance’s seaweeds are USDA Certified Organic by MOFGA, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Our employees are HACCP-certified and our production facility will be SQF-certified in the coming months. 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.
During the production process, we test the seaweed for moisture and available water before putting it into bags. Even though seaweed contains natural salts that inhibit bacterial growth, we limit the conditions that facilitate the growth of microorganisms. Some people may confuse naturally occurring dried salts and sugars for mold because of its white, powdery appearance. We recommend that seaweed be stored in an airtight container in a dark, cool place, again to prohibit the growth of unwanted microorganisms.
Testing
Seaweed has been consumed safely for centuries in other parts of the world, and all of our seaweed is grown in the Gulf of Maine, one of the cleanest bodies of water on the planet. But we can’t control what the ocean currents carry so we test our seaweeds to ensure they continue to be safe for human consumption.
Working with third-party labs, we test a representative sample of each variety of seaweed that we offer for heavy metals and microbes. Results are available upon request.