© Oceanium
The funding, which comes from the Biological Research Council (BBSRC) and the government grant agency Innovate UK, was awarded to Oceanium as part of the Diet and Health Innovation Competition, which seeks to drive the design and development of novel health ingredients.
Oceanium plans to use the funding to support its’s most recent scheme, project SeaFibre, which focusses on the development of Ocean Health Nutra – a nutrient-dense, high fibre ingredient developed alongside the University of Reading.
With estimates suggesting that over 90 percent of UK and EU inhabitants consume under the recommended amount of dietary fibre, Oceanium seeks to fill this deficit with their innovative seaweed product, providing a natural, sustainable solution. The ingredient also contains high amounts of iodine and antioxidants, along with eight of the nine essential amino acids.
"Thank you to Innovate UK and BBSRC. This funding represents a major milestone for Oceanium, enabling us to accelerate the development of Ocean Health Nutra. We are committed to creating sustainable and healthy ingredients, and this support brings us closer to market while addressing key global health and environmental challenges,” said Dr Charlie Bavington, co-founder and CTO at Oceanium, in a press release,
For this next phase of development, Oceanium has recruited Dr Rahul Kumar, a PhD graduate from the University of Reading with experience in plant-based food solutions, who will lead the development of functional food products incorporating Ocean Health Nutra.
