Many people today, especially those who choose plant-based diets, struggle to get enough of the essential omega-3 fatty acids that support heart and brain health. Algae oil offers a sustainable, vegan source of these nutrients, but it comes with a challenge: when added to foods, it tends to spoil quickly, creating unpleasant flavors and losing its nutritional value. This makes it difficult for food companies to include algae oil in everyday products without compromising taste, texture, or shelf life.
Our project set out to solve this problem using natural ingredients from seaweed. Seaweed contains tiny protein fragments called peptides that act like natural shields against oxidation, the process that makes oils go rancid. We combined these peptides with simple food ingredients (emulsifiers) that help oil and water stay mixed. Imagine a salad dressing that doesn’t separate; that’s an emulsion. In some cases, we used a special type called a Pickering emulsion, where microscopic particles from seaweed sit on the surface of each oil droplet like protective armor. We also created microcapsules, tiny shells around the oil droplets, formed by a gentle spray process, so the oil stays protected until it is consumed.
The goal was to identify and prepare seaweed peptides using environmentally friendly methods, use those peptides and seaweed particles to build stable oil-in-water emulsions, and add the stabilized algae oil to a familiar plant-based drink, oat milk, while testing taste, storage, and digestion. By doing this, we aimed to show that omega-3-rich algae oil can be delivered naturally and effectively into plant-based foods without sacrificing quality. The results enable healthier, shelf-stable plant-based foods enriched with marine-sourced omega-3, using renewable seaweed resources and green processing. Potential impacts include better dietary omega-3 access, reduced food waste through longer shelf life, support for clean-label formulations, and innovation opportunities across functional foods and alternative proteins. The work aligns with EU priorities on sustainable food systems, health promotion, and resource-efficient technologies.
