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The problem with organic spirulina
Spirulix stands for a spirulina cultivation that is ecologically sensible & gives you the best possible products for the future of all of us:
- sustainable according to the principle of the circular economy
- ecologically and economically sensible & gentle
- Free from pesticides, pollutants and heavy metals
- regional production in Lower Austria
- Focus on quality so you only get the best!
Nevertheless, we often get the question why spirulina or other algae are not produced in organic quality anywhere in Europe. Unfortunately, the reason for this is not up to us. That's why we thought that we would explain to you at this point why this is the case:
The problem with the nitrogen
The algae production can be imagined as a vegetable patch. Like any plant, spirulina needs certain nutrients to grow. In addition to CO2, iron, magnesium and a few others, nitrogen in particular plays an important role. And here there is a problem.
For an alga like Spirulina to be certified organic, the nutrients used in its production must also be certified organic. And nitrogen is not available as an approved, water-soluble bio-nutrient for aquaculture across the EU.
A permitted form of bio-nitrogen would be compost. However, if we were to use this as a source of nitrogen, our entire water chemistry would change and many undesirable substances would be in the water. Therefore the use of compost is not possible.
Another possibility that is often used in the cosmetics industry is urine. However, this is not approved for the production of food and, quite honestly, we would not want to use it even if it were allowed.
So you see: it is simply not possible to produce certified organic algae in the EU due to a legislative problem.
But why is there still organic spirulina to buy?
Organic can mean 2 things with algae products:
- either the algae come from a natural body of water, such as a river or lake
- or Spirulina is a non-organic ingredient in an organic product
The former applies to pure organic spirulina, which is known for example in the form of powder, tablets or pellets. And here there is a big problem!
Most Spirulina algae are cultivated in natural fish waters in Asia (usually China or India). For this reason, many spirulina products also taste quite fishy. The organic seal for spirulina or algae is therefore mostly a "Made in Asia" seal.
Everyone has probably heard the problem that many natural bodies of water, especially in South-East Asia, are so polluted with heavy metals that fish and algae are also polluted with them.
Spirulina is known to bind and drain heavy metals. And that's the problem with organic spirulina! If you grow spirulina in contaminated water, it will do what it does best there: bind heavy metals. So if you buy organic spirulina, it may already be full of pollutants and heavy metals. Because of this, the algae can no longer bind any heavy metals in the body, and it may even release pollutants in the body!
The question that arises here is: would you want to jump into any body of water in Asia knowing that there could be many pollutants in it? Then why would you take it in the form of organic spirulina?
What we do better for you in the production of our spirulina:
Before we set out to become algae farmers, we looked very closely at the problems involved in the current production of spirulina. Right from the start, we set ourselves a goal: to bring a regional spirulina to people that is not only of the best quality, but also tastes good. And we did it!
Spirulina is at its purest when grown separately from the environment. That's exactly what we do. Due to this separation from the environment, however, it is not possible to get an organic seal for our spirulina.
We use Austrian drinking water during production, but we have to clean it again using an osmosis system so that it is really pure enough for Spirulina. This necessary effort alone shows that you have to be careful about the origin of Spirulina!
In addition, our tanks are checked daily according to a wide variety of parameters, so that we really always know how our Spirulina is doing. Because just “good” is not enough for us. If we work on our algae every day, then it really has to be of the highest quality. And since we regularly get so many emails from you, we know: you notice that too.
