Seaweed as health and dietetic food - What target consumers ? IDEALG project

The surveys conducted by AGROCAMPUS OUEST as part of the Idealg project iden"fied consumers interested in seaweed as a health food because of its nutri"onal and diete"c proper"es, work that resulted in the authors asking the following ques"on: " Is edible seaweed a health food product and is it suited to French ea"ng habits? " Diagram summing up the methods used Health is one of the main perceived a+ributes of edible seaweed in France. French consumers associate it with seafood as well as with a number of nutri"onal, diete"c and health benefits. When asked about the profile of seaweed consumers, both general public respondents and experts imagine a woman looking for natural, healthy and low-calorie products to help her eat be/er and watch her figure. This profile is indeed a historical one in edible seaweed consump"on; many French women, however, have never had access to such products and are therefore a poten"al target. Besides, despite the obvious link between edible seaweed and health, few processors and retailers are marke"ng seaweed as a health product in an appropriate selling environment. Only organic shops highlight this aspect. The panel of experts also confirmed how difficult it is for them to place seaweed in a specific product category. Context Macro-algae have been part of the human diet from "me immemorial and have long been used in Chinese, Japanese and Indian medical schools for their medicinal proper"es. In France, consuming seaweed as food is a rela"vely recent and minority prac"ce. Consump"on started in the 1970s, spurred on by vegetarians interested in its nutri"onal proper"es, and then a+racted a larger consumer base in the 2000s with the development of Japanese restaurants and the success of sushi.