Nunavik Biosciences brings seaweed to the dinner table

Nunavik Foods offers three different flavours designed for fish, meat and salads. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Nunavik Biosciences Yves Bellefleur, centre, promotes Nunavik Foods newest offering at the Northern Lights trade show last week: natural food seasoning made from seaweed harvested near Kangirsuk. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Managers of a Makivik Corp. subsidiary hope that Nunavik seaweed will soon make its way onto dinner tables across the world.

Makivik first launched its subsidiary, Nunavik Biosciences, in 2005, when the company first decided to bottle a species of brown seaweed found in Ungava Bay for its line of skin care products.

The Ungava line includes six natural creams and cleansers, lightly fragranced with white tea.

But as the company continued to build on its selection of fine creams, some of its developers noticed the main ingredient was just as appealing to the tongue as to the skin.

“While developing the products, we noticed the seaweed was quite tasty — not too salty,” said Nunavik Biosciences’ Yves Bellefleur. “So we said ‘Why not spices?’”

The result is a new line of natural food seasoning called Nunavik Foods, with three different flavours designed for fish, meat and salads.

The products were on display to the public for the first time this past week at the Northern Lights trade show in Ottawa.

The seasoning, packaged in reusable glass grinders, contains seaweed along with leek, red pepper, onion, parsley, chives, garlic, chili and promises to give a natural kick to any meal.

The product also promises a healthier alternative to the competition, Bellefleur said, by avoiding any added sodium. (Each 3.25 ounce shaker contains five per cent natural sodium.)

The seaweed comes from beds in Ungava Bay; more specifically, researchers have harvested from seaweed beds around Payne Bay (Kangirsuk).

One brown variety of seaweed has proven “anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties,” Bellefleur said, while the plant is also high in vitamins B and C.

Now, producers of the new Nunavik Foods line hope to target the natural foods and organic niche market by having its seaweed certified organic by Ecocert, an inspection and certification body, later this year.

But Nunavik Foods hopes to launch the new seasoning line even before that; the product should be on the market as soon as March 2012.

Bellefleur said the company has already been approached by a European vendor and plans to be available for sale in Kuujjuaq and other stores in the region.

During the past few years Nunavik Biosciences has targeted seaweed, shrimp and medicinal plants for development, as a way to bolster the local economy in Nunavik communities.

Studies have showed that by-products from Makivik’s offshore shrimp industry could produce nutritional supplements. Shrimp shells, which are usually thrown away, contain significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, phospholipids and other bio-molecules.

“We’ve already had interest in other products,” Bellefleur said, without revealing what kind. But, he says, expect to see more natural food products made with locally-sourced Nunavik ingredients in the future.

Check out Nunavik Foods’ new website here.