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Saint Lucia’s sun-dried seamoss is undergoing a major branding and packaging change.
Spearheaded by Export Saint Lucia with support from the Department of Fisheries, Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards and Saint Lucia’s Seamoss Farmers Associations, the island's seamoss is poised to be more competitive under the Taste of Saint Lucia brand and with new eco-friendly packaging.
Accordng to a recently issued release, the Taste of Saint Lucia brand features a special collection of premium food, beverage, and wellness products for those who want a taste of the island life. The brand assures customers and clients that the products meet the requisite quality standards that ensure one is getting the best from Saint Lucia. Under the brand, the island’s sundried seamoss will stand out as being uniquely Saint Lucian, distinguishing itself from similar products on the market, and helping customers to truly appreciate the uniqueness of Saint Lucia’s seamoss.
CEO of Export Saint Lucia, Sunita Daniel, noted, “Various market visits and trends have indicated that Saint Lucia’s seamoss has a very strong presence in the vegan, vegetarian and millennial niche markets. According to the Vegan Society’s Website, the number of vegans in the United States grew from 4 million in 2014 to 19.6 million in 2017. For this reason, the sale of food products consumed by this community is projected to be $24.3 Billion US Dollars annually by 2024”.
To benefit from this emerging trend, steps have been taken toward improving the competitiveness of the product, including changing the packaging from plastic to an environmentally friendly paper pouch, the release said. With Export Saint Lucia’s commitment to procuring the initial consignment of paper pouches, Saint Lucia’s seamoss will be going completely ‘green’ in the months ahead. Seamoss farmers have remained resilient despite battling adverse weather conditions, and continue to supply the US and the UK markets with exports on a near-weekly basis, helping to boost economic activity along the island’s east coast. The first week of October 2019 saw the most recent shipment of seamoss to the US with regular, sustained shipments anticipated.
