FAO on Spirulina

* FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization
* IIMSAM – Intergovernmental Institution for the Use of Micro-Algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition,

Spirulina endorsed by FAO, as a follow-up on a General Assembly draft resolution initiated by IIMSAM

During the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly (Second Committee, Agenda item 52), IIMSAM initiated a revised draft resolution on the “Use of Spirulina to combat hunger and malnutrition and help achieve sustainable development” which was submitted by: Burundi, Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Paraguay. As a follow-up on this resolution, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was requested to prepare a draft position on Spirulina. FAO’s report was presented in 2008 and includes the following recommendations:

• To improve technical and economic solutions to Spirulina production in environmentally impoverished conditions, as well as to prepare tested production packages for rapid deployment in emergency situations.
• To develop a practical guide to small-scale Spirulina production that could be used for development mythologies, oriented towards:

1. Providing nutritional supplements for use in rural and urban communities where the diet is inadequate;
2. Allowing diversification from traditional crops in cases where land or water resources are limited;
3. An integrated system for wastewater treatment, small-scale aquaculture production and other livestock feed supplication;
4. As a short- and medium-term solution to emergency situations where a sustainable supply of high protein/high vitamin foodstuff is required. This implies the ability to rapidly install systems in a variety of environments that can be sustained by local communities to cover both the short-term food needs and to supplement longer-term nutritional requirements especially once other forms of food relief cease to be delivered.

• To establish better monitoring of global Spirulina production and product flows.
• To develop some form of web-based resource that allows the compilation of scientifically robust information and statistics for public access.
• To develop clear guidelines on food safety aspects of Spirulina so that human health risks can be managed.

Source: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1034. A review on culture, production and use of Spirulina as food for humans and feeds for domestic animals and fish.