Is There Kelp in Your Cupboard?

Do you have kelp in your house? Chances are you do! Kelp and other seaweeds are used in a variety of common foods and household items like toothpaste, frozen desserts and salad dressings.

Seaweeds are large ocean plants called algae

. The three main groups of seaweed are brown, red and green algae, each providing important ingredients for the manufacture of food and other products. Alginate

, carrageenan

and beta carotene

are the names for the algae products you might find in foods or other products in your cupboards. These seaweed derivatives help ingredients mix together and form thick, gooey gels.

Are you curious what stuff in your house has algae in it?

1.	Print out our Is There Kelp in Your Cupboard? activity sheet.
2.	Many household products, medicines, and cosmetics contain substances from kelp—including dog food and lipstick. Look through your cupboards at home to see which food or other products contain algae. If you need help getting started, click here for some clues.

Watch kelp in action on our live Kelp Forest exhibit web cam.

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"Is There Kelp in Your
Cupboard?" Activity Sheet

Celebrating 25 Years of Ocean Conservation