Fermented seaweed: a new marine source of vitamin K2 for pet food

Our distribution partner Scoular has published a new article in Pet Food Processing exploring how fermentation turns Kappaphycus alvarezii, the tropical red seaweed at the heart of SEADLING's work, into a multifunctional pet food ingredient, including a marine-origin source of vitamin K2.

What fermentation changes

Raw kappaphycus is already nutrient-dense, carrying minerals, fibre and bioactive compounds. Fermentation builds on that. It lowers crude fibre and raises levels of soluble oligosaccharides, which act as a prebiotic substrate for beneficial gut bacteria. It also improves palatability. Most distinctively, it produces vitamin K2 (MK-7), a nutrient the raw seaweed doesn't contain.

The fermented ingredient keeps the minerals naturally present in the seaweed, including calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron and manganese.

Why it matters for pet food formulators

Most MK-7 used in pet food today comes from fermented soybeans (natto) or is made synthetically. Fermented seaweed offers a marine-origin alternative.

It also lets one ingredient do several jobs in a formula: gut support, vitamin K2 and trace minerals. And it does so as a single, recognisable ingredient, which is easier to explain to pet parents than a list of isolates.

Grown in the ocean of Borneo

Our seaweed is grown in the sea off Borneo by local farming communities, without pesticides or fertiliser.

"For about fifty years, almost all tropical seaweed has gone into one product: carrageenan," said Simon Davis, Founder and Managing Director of SEADLING. "Fermentation is one way we're showing it can be much more. It makes a better ingredient for pet food, and it opens a bigger market for the communities who farm it."

Read Scoular's full article in Pet Food Processing

To request samples or a specification sheet, contact info@seadling.com.