Seaweed company on crest of a wave

It was an Italian woman’s love affair with Irish seaweed that prompted the creation of a small company that is to start exporting products to Japan.

“Irish seaweed is the most amazing resource. The West Coast of Ireland is the only unpolluted coast in the world, which means the seaweed here is clean and in demand worldwide,” says Rosaria Piseri, who abandoned her life in Milan 12 years ago to come and research seaweed on the Aran Islands.

Now she runs a small organic company in Donegal, Algaran Teo, which sells sea veg and seaweed-based food products and cosmetics, mainly to Italy, but also to distributors in France, Scandinavia, Belgium, Russia and Ireland.