Algae Can Provide A More Sustainable, Healthy Alternative To Seed Oils
The Seed Oil Free Alliance announced Seed Oil Free Certified™ cooking oils as an new alternative to traditional seed extracted cooking oils. The two US-based companies are harnessing technology to produce cooking oil from microalgae. ‘Spotlight Foods’ is the first company producing oil through fermentation to complete certification by the Seed Oil Free Alliance alongside retailer Algae Cooking Club. Seed Oil Free Certification of both companies’ products followed independent lab testing by the Seed Oil Free Alliance.
“Algae-derived cooking oils could revolutionize how we feed a growing world. Unhealthy and unstable seed oils are produced from industrially grown crops associated with deforestation, loss of habitat, pollution, and disruption of biodiversity,” said Seed Oil Free Alliance CEO Jonathan Rubin. “Spotlight™ Foods can produce monounsaturated fats ideal for high-heat cooking in a matter of days with a fraction of the land, water, and carbon needed for low-quality seed oils, and now Algae Cooking Club is making it widely accessible to consumers.”
“It may seem unlikely, but this new algae oil is quite delicious, extremely pure, and even higher in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats than olive oil. What excites me is that it’s all being done in a controlled environment with a lower environmental footprint than many seed oils and without blending with inferior ingredients,” said Dr. Andrew Weil, the Founder of the Andrew Weil University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, who also serves as Scientific and Medical Advisor to the Seed Oil Free Alliance.
“If we are going to address the larger challenges around our food system, companies will need to deliver new ingredients that ask less of the planet without sacrificing taste, trust and the overall cooking experience,” said Algae Cooking Club CEO and co-founder Kasra Saidi.
Kevin Ward, Sustainability Scientist at Spotlight Foods, explains “Plant-based sugars from sugarcane are fed to microalgae in large, stainless steel fermentation tanks. Similar to yeast fermenting sugar into alcohol, algae efficiently convert sugar into an edible oil in a matter of days. The result is a neutral-tasting cooking oil high in monounsaturated omega-9 fats and low in omega-6 fats, which recent research has shown to be inflammatory.”
“Algae-derived cooking oils could revolutionize how we feed a growing world. Unhealthy and unstable seed oils are produced from industrially grown crops associated with deforestation, loss of habitat, pollution, and disruption of biodiversity,” said Seed Oil Free Alliance CEO Jonathan Rubin.
The Seed Oil Free Alliance is a third-party certifying organization that offers the world’s first “Seed Oil Free Certified” seal for qualifying consumer packaged goods (CPG), ready-to-eat foods, food service operations, and bottled cooking oil products. The “Seed Oil Free Certified” seal guarantees consumers that the foods they choose have undergone independent laboratory testing to ensure the purity of added oils and refined fat ingredients
