The Role of Iodine in Seaweed Ingredients

Seaweed has earned its place in modern pet food as a functional, sustainable ingredient and a natural source of iodine, the trace mineral essential for healthy thyroid and metabolic function. But there’s a catch that often goes unspoken: iodine levels vary enormously from one seaweed to the next, and both too much and too little carry real consequences. For formulators, the question isn’t simply whether an ingredient contains iodine, but whether you can count on how much.

This white paper examines how iodine concentrations differ across seaweed species—from slow-growing brown seaweeds that run high and variable to fast-growing red seaweeds like Kappaphycus—and shows how a controlled fermentation process delivers a low, stable and predictable iodine profile