Sea & Flour, the first company to integrate seaweed into the commercial baking process, announced today it has been awarded a patent for systems and methods for processing seaweed. The patent (U.S. Patent No. 11,717,010) pertains to the process of cold washing, processing, and granulating seaweed for use in breads and other related products. These processes help ensure that seaweed can be successfully incorporated into high-volume baking while delivering the flavor and the nutritional benefits that come from the sea.

Sea & Flour products include bread, buns, rolls, and pizza dough. They are carb-positive and carbon-negative. As such, they help address climate change and expand regenerative coastal agriculture and the blue economy, while also improving the nutritional value of bread, one of America's most commonly eaten foods.

"We've learned from extensive market research that a significant share of American consumers now want to find ways to eat seaweed more often, so we set out to identify a way to make that easy to do by incorporating it into foods that people already eat on a daily basis," said Penelope Wasserman, co-founder and president of Sea & Flour. "The most commonly eaten food is bread."

"Being awarded this patent is recognition of the uniqueness of our approach and the methods we developed and perfected over several years," said Arlin Wasserman, co-founder and CEO of Sea & Flour. "We're making seaweed perform successfully as a key ingredient in food manufacturing including in everyday products like breads, rolls, and pizza crusts, and we're excited to see this nutritious and sustainable ingredient play a larger role in our diets. Our goal is to help food manufacturers and retailers make products that consumers already love do more for them in terms of nutritional value while also doing more for the planet.”

Sea & Flour products sequester carbon while providing nutritional benefits to help prevent some of the most common chronic diseases like osteoporosis and hypertension using nutrition-packed sea plants. The line of baked goods will become available in select grocery stores during the second half of this year. For more information or to get in touch, visit seaandflour.com.

Related: Sea & Flour introduces carb-positive, carbon-negative line of baked goods