there’s a kind of weird situation with food in canada. came across Spirulina, kind of tickled my brain.
I kind of want to have a little windowsill culture.
it seems like a lot of attention has been put in to Spirulina as a “health food” etc, trying to make selling it economically viable with overblown claims about medicinal properties - but besides this BS it seems like it has some notable properties as a basic food.
it’s crazy that most articles I can find suggest it’s an amazing source of Vitamin B12, but it’s definitely not - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirulina_(dietary_supplement)
Spirulina contains no vitamin B12 naturally, and spirulina supplements are not considered a reliable source of vitamin B12, as they contain predominantly pseudovitamin B12 (Coα-[α-(7-adenyl)]-Coβ-cyanocobamide),[18] which is biologically inactive in humans.[19][20] In a 2009 position paper on vegetarian diets, the American Dietetic Association stated that spirulina is not a reliable source of active vitamin B12.[20]
- The claim “Source of vitamin B12” is not acceptable as most vitamin B12 from this source is not bioactive (Michaelson 2009; Watanabe F. 2007; Watanabe et al. 1999).
https://webprod.hc-sc.gc.ca/nhpid-bdipsn/atReq?atid=spirulin2&lang=eng
Biomass 15 (1988) 233-247
Mass Production of the Blue-green Alga Spirulina:
An Overview*
Avigad Vonshak & Amos Richmond
this is a great paper. once again, I find the best fundamental papers by filtering exclusively to technical reports or papers published before 2000. many modern reports on this topic that are just… information-free. don’t serve to help actually winnow down the benefits vs costs, more about touting benefits.
The history of Spirulina as a staple in the human diet is unique. There
is evidence from the annals of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, early in
the sixteenth century, that the Aztecs harvested from Lake Texcoco mats
of algal biomass reminiscent of Spirulina, from which they made dry
bricks which were eaten as cheese would be eaten today in the Western
World. Likewise, for many generations dried Spirulina has been used as
a food by the Kanembu tribe, which lives along the shores of Lake Chad
in Central Africa. 8
being very conservative, areal yield of 10 tons/hectare in 1988.
in canada, crop yields for potato = 40 tons per hectare, pretty much the same as the “attaninable yield”. soybean, 4 tons per hectare.
https://ourworldindata.org/crop-yields
bananas, 10 tons per hectare in the US.
“A few other sites have ceased production, owing to high cost of production”
so the math only really works out if the controlled process, reliiability, non-seasonality of spirulina would be better.
In large scale ventures, annual production does not exceed 30 tonne ha-J year- ~ representing an average of less than 10 g m- 2 day- J i.e. a net photosynthetic efficiency of somewhat over 1%, significantly less than the theoretical limit.~ (~
Contamination by different algae may represent a very severe problem
for microalgal cultures grown in outdoor reactors.
Since then, we have successfully tested
the proposed measures in large-scale commercial ponds.
using modern microbiology genetic and breeding techniques I wonder if this can be solved.
It is worth noting that no cyanophages attacking Spirulina have been observed so far.
that’s kind of a cool benefit. in farming you have pests that eat the substance you want to produce.
We estimate that in none of the intensive production
sites (Thailand, USA, Japan, Mexico) is the cost of production, not
including capital cost, lower than US 10 per kg of spray-dried Spirulina
powder.
that’s in 1988 dollars. so $30 today.
an egg is 60g. dozen eggs is $5, that’s (rounding up) 1 kg of egg. below, it seems like spirulina matches about a third of an egg nutritionally, you’d need 3 kg of spirulina to match 1 kg of egg.
Scale-up increases production and it is also important for resilience. More ponds mean the company could weather the collapse of microalgae cultures that can occasionally occur and cause issues for production and supply.
https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/3178-growing-spirulina
Blue-green algae are a group of bacteria. They can be used as a source of protein, but contain no more protein than meat or milk.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230609181907/https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/natural/923.html
good reality check.
question: is it more difficult to produce protein or calories? what do most malnurished people actually lack?
okay question: what is protein? yes, I get it from a biochemical side, but what about the nutrition perspective. I don’t understand what the body does with it.
often you hear a response like “how can we provide x essential service more efficiently or sustainably”. like meeting recently went to wehere electricity utility implied “they can simply not warm their food”. or “we will build tiny, homes for unhoused people, these housing projects cost millions per unit, we can do it for cheaper”. or “people shouldn’t use food stamps for unhealthy food”
to the contrary, a “housing first” principle seems to be most evidence-based, providing unhoused people quality, secure, well-built to the same standards, means they have a chance to thrive, where they can put items that they value without them being stolen, where they are warm and (SGU # )
so I feel that building to a price is not a good strategy, instead appropriately fund programs even if they seem expensive. serve hot meals in schools.
During the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly (Second Committee, Agenda item
52), a revised draft resolution on the “Use of spirulina to combat hunger and malnutrition and help
achieve sustainable development” was submitted by Burundi, Cameroon, Dominican Republic,
Nicaragua and Paraguay. As a follow up of this resolution, FAO was requested to prepare a draft position
paper on spirulina so as to have a clearer understanding on its use and to convey FAO’s position on this.
In 1967 spirulina was established as a “wonderful future food source” in the International Association of
Applied Microbiology (Sasson, 1997). Analysis of the nutritional properties of spirulina showed first and
foremost an exceptionally high protein content, of the order of 60–70 percent of its dry weight; it also
showed the excellent quality of its proteins (balanced essential amino acid content). This first data was
enough to launch many research projects for industrial purposes in the 1970s, because micro-organisms
(yeast, chlorella, spirulina, some bacteria and moulds) seemed at that time to be the most direct route to
inexpensive proteins – the iconic “single cell proteins”.
At the same time when Léonard rediscovered spirulina in Africa, a request was received from a company
named Sosa-Texcoco Ltd by the “Institut français du pétrole” to study a bloom of algae occurring in the
evaporation ponds of their sodium bicarbonate production facility in a lake near Mexico City. As a result,
the first systematic and detailed study of the growth requirements and physiology of spirulina was
performed. This study, which was a part of Ph.D. thesis by Zarrouk (1966), was the basis for establishing
the first large-scale production plant of spirulina (Sasson, 1997).
While finally no micro-organism fulfilled its promise of cheap protein, spirulina continued to give rise to
research and increasing production, reflecting its perceived nutritional assets (Falquet, 2000).
Protein: Spirulina contains unusually high amounts of protein, between 55 and 70 percent by dry weight,
depending upon the source (Phang et al., 2000). It is a complete protein, containing all essential amino
acids, though with reduced amounts of methionine, cystine, and lysine, as compared to standard proteins
such as that from meat, eggs, or milk; it is, however, superior to all standard plant protein, such as that
from legumes.
Spirulina has high quality protein content (59–65 percent), which is more than other commonly used
plant sources such as dry soybeans (35 percent), peanuts (25 percent) or grains (8–10 percent). A special
value of spirulina is that it is readily digested due to the absence of cellulose in its cell walls (as it is the
case for eukaryotic green microalgae such as Chlorella, Ankistrodesmus, Selenastrum, Scenedesmus):
after 18 hours more than 85 percent of its protein is digested and assimilated (Sasson, 1997).
The content of cholesterol is 32.5 mg/100 g; 10 g of spirulina powder, i.e., a soup spoon, provides only
1.3 mg of cholesterol and 36 kcal of energy, whereas the equivalent quantity of protein from egg would
provide 300 mg of cholesterol and 80 kcal of energy.
A third species of spirulina cultivated in a “Complex”
medium and exposed at 66 µmol photon/m2
/second
interesting quantitative unit
Spirulina cultivation has a number of advantages over traditional agriculture:
High yield: With around 60 percent protein content, spirulina’s rapid growth means it yields 20 > times
more protein per unit area than soybeans, 40 times more than corn, and over 200 times more > than beef.
what the fuck?
there must be some downside. what’s the deal?
As early as 1949, Spoehr and Milner (1949) suggested that the mass culture of algae would help to
overcome global protein shortages. Ironically, in spite of the lamentably low per capita protein supplies in
many parts of the world, mass cultivation of algae has received only casual interest.
earthrise spirulina
texaco shut down in 1995, why
In the middle of the Atacama Desert in Chile, the “Solarium Appropriate Biotechnology Group for Desert
Development” has developed a culture and processing system for producing spirulina. Spirulina is
cultured in polyvinyl chloride-lined raceway ponds with agitation by a paddle-wheel giving a flow rate of
20–25 cm/second. Ponds are covered with 0.15 mm-thick translucent UV-resistant polyethylene film.
Such protection maintains adequate temperatures in the culture medium most of the year resulting in an
optimal growth of spirulina. Simple and easily-operated harvested gravity filtration systems allow to filtrate
15–20 m3
/hour and obtain a pre-concentrated biomass with about 5 percent total solids. Production
reached nearly 3 tonnes of dry spirulina per year from 2.4 hectares (6 acres) of intensive ponds (Sánchez
et al, undated).…Another part of the production is delivered to humanitarian agencies which use spirulina as a
nutritional supplement for children in Africa and Latin America.
Attempts have been made by Proteus, a marketing company mainly associated with Earthrise
Farms in the United States of America, to incorporate spirulina into a variety of food products such as
granola bars and various kinds of pasta (Vonshak, 1990). Spirulina powder is also an ingredient of an
orange-flavoured chewable wafer and other types of candy, of protein flours (10 percent spirulina added
to soybean or to milk-egg powders), and of Pastalina, a green soy-whole wheat noodle. The preparation of
fermented foods such as cheese, yogurt and tofu, offered many new possibilities to the use of spirulina.
Furthermore, extraction methods could provide a decoloured spirulina powder (yellow-white) which is
odourless and tasteless, and thus suitable for widespread use.
hmm, this part of the report seems to be incorrect:
it provides an easily digestible high (c. 60 percent) protein product with high levels of β-carotene, vitamin B12,
modern claims are that it is not a source of vit b12.
In the past decade, many companies have attempted to manufacture Spirulina commercially. Many commercial production attempts have failed, although some successful producers are still restricted to the domestic markets. Spirulina was also first commercially produced from natural lakes in Myanmar in 1988.
In the past decade,
many companies have attempted to manufacture Spirulina commercially. Many
> commercial production attempts have failed, although some successful producers
are still restricted to the domestic markets. Spirulina was also first commercially
produced from natural lakes in Myanmar in 1988.
Spirulina in Human Nutrition and Health
edited by M. E. Gershwin, Amha Belay
5.3 Natural health products
Cyanobacteria taxa (e.g. Spirulina, Aphenizomenon) used in the commercial manufacture of natural health products can be cultured in large scale in bioreactors, controlled ponds or naturally, in natural lakes. Aphanizomenon blooms harvested for supplements come from the natural environment and may be contaminated with cyanobacterial species that produce toxins. Most Spirulina samples used in supplements come from culture, and there is little contamination with other toxic species; however, some environmental contamination can occur (Jiang et al., 2008; Heussner et al., 2012). A survey of cyanobacterial supplements available in Canada and elsewhere in North America showed that microcystins were detected in 83/85 products, with 72% having concentrations above 1 µg/g (Gilroy et al., 2000). Mean microcystin levels in Aphanizomenon-based products were between 0.43 and 10.89 µg/g, whereas those in Spirulina-based products ranged from 0.15 to 0.52 µg/g, with one sample containing 2.12 µg/g (Gilroy et al., 2000). Ortelli et al. (2008) found that 6/9 samples of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae supplements contained MC-LR and MC-LA at up to 4 µg/g, whereas 0/10 samples of Spirulina contained microcystins. According to Jiang et al. (2008), 34/36 of Spirulina supplements obtained from various retail outlets in China tested positive for microcystins, at concentrations ranging from 2 to 163 ng/g (0.002–0.163 µg/g). In Canada, licensing of natural health products that contain cyanobacteria must adhere to a finished product tolerance limit of 0.02 µg MC-LR/kg body weight (bw) per day or a raw material tolerance limit of 1 part per million (ppm) (Health Canada, 2015).
Like other dietary supplements, spirulina is not regulated by the FDA, so there’s no guarantee that the product you buy will be contaminant-free or contain the amount of spirulina promised on the label.
how about water use. it’s grown in water, that could be a downside.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19950008492/downloads/19950008492.pdf
There is no doubt that, in order to make
Spirulina biomass a widely used commodity, the cost of production must
be reduced to the range of 2-3 USS per kg of dry matter. This figure will
be attained only if much higher production rates, at least three times
higher than those obtained in the present commercial plants, are
achieved.
well, or unless all the other foods no longer grow as efficiently due to climate change.
Environmental Impacts of Large‑Scale Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis)
Production in Hellisheidi Geothermal Park Iceland: Life Cycle
Assessment
Asaf Tzachor1,2 · Asger Smidt‑Jensen3
· Alfons Ramel4
· Margrét Geirsdóttir4
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10126-022-10162-8.pdf
this is pretty unfair, because it’s comparing to meat, not e.g. soybeans for tofu.
Under the first, conservative production scale-up scenario, Iceland could be protein self-sufficient with 20,925 tons of spirulina produced per year using 15 percent of the currently installed electricity generation capacity. This is enough to meet the protein and dietary requirements of 572,867 individuals.