Exploring Seaweed's Role in Novel Food Products: Turtle Talks Ep. 5

 Welcome to the final episode of our 5-part "Turtle Talks" series, developed in collaboration with The Seaweed Company (TSC)!

In this episode, Peter sits down with John Murray (Bord Bia), and Lieneke Hohmann (TSC) to discuss the benefits and challenges of using seaweed in our food products. 

John Murray is the Director of Meat, Food & Beverage Sectors with Bord Bia – the Irish Food Board. He has responsibility to drive sector strategy deployment and deliver successful business growth supports and services. He joined from Kerry Group where he held senior roles in commercial sales and strategy development across Europe. Prior to this, John worked in specialist dairy commercial roles with Ornua in both the UK and Ireland. He also has experience in retail buying in the Irish market, working for the successful SuperQuinn franchise. John originally commenced his working career in Bord Bia, in the areas of research and trade marketing. He is a UCD Agricultural Science graduate, and hails from west Waterford originally.

Lieneke Hohmann is Head of Commerce- Food at The Seaweed Company. She is an experienced leader with a proven track record in a wide range of functions including sales, innovation and strategy in companies including Nouryon and AkzoNobel. Lieneke has a passion for real products, smart solutions and nature and has been contributing to a more sustainable and healthy food system for years.  

In this episode, some highlights include:

0:01:40 - Introductions 
0:04:55 - Do the consumers care about carbon?
0:08:12 - What pain points are you seeing in the seaweed for food market?
0:10:14- What matters most to the consumer...?
0:12:30 - Examples of comparable products that have entered food markets that seaweed can learn from.
0:16:10- Will seaweed burgers encourage people to eat more meat? 
0:21:10 - Ireland's value proposition as an innovation hub for novel food products.
0:24:09 - What percentage does seaweed make up in the food products TSC makes?