Seaweed on my lunch tray: challenges and opportunities for including macroalgae in Welsh school meals

The inclusion of seaweed in European school meals would be atypical but offers a great opportunity to enhance childhood nutrition, support local livelihoods, preserve the use of traditional foods and contribute to sustainability targets. Seaweeds provide a source of iron and B vitamins whilst being low in fat, sugar and calories; they are also a whole-food, animal-free food providing umami flavouring. In this study, focusing on school meals in the UK region of Wales, seaweed is not currently included in meals and its limited availability within wholesaler catalogues and the relatively high cost prevent its inclusion. To realize the multiple benefits of this ingredient, demand should be boosted, which will lead to increased supply and bring seaweed within catering budgets. Increasing demand should encompass a clearer quantification of nutritional benefits, a communication of the benefits to current dietary patterns, provision of a playbook of suitable uses in school and home kitchens and a greater inclusion in wholesaler catalogues supplying caterers. Combined, these actions would create a future of more nutritious meals for Welsh children that would provide holistic support for wider ecological, social and economic systems.