Welcome to the world of seaweed!
Surely we all know that seaweed products in the form of sheets or snacks are popular with consumers in the market today, right? Let me tell you that these products are imported from Korea and Japan. And currently, Vietnam has not launched seaweed products in the form of sheets or snacks like in other countries.
Grasping the needs and tastes of customers, Tri Tin Company Limited has researched, processed and produced a completely new line of Vietnamese seaweed products, which is V.Robi Seaweed Snack - Vietnamese seaweed sheets. Do you feel interested and curious about our products? If so, let's learn more about the products made from Vietnamese seaweed with Tri Tin!

I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE PRODUCT
The V.robi seaweed snack product line is a clear demonstration of the development and innovation in the Vietnamese seaweed industry. With pride in products made entirely from Vietnamese seaweed ingredients and researched and produced by Vietnamese people, V.robi has not only helped replace imported products but also created real value for the country's seaweed resources, contributing to the development of the industry and enhancing Vietnam's position in the world market.

In December 2022, the Science and Technology Council of Khanh Hoa province has just accepted and highly appreciated the quality of the project "Research on processing technology of Porphyra and Monostroma seaweed into value-added products" chaired by engineer Le Ben - Deputy Director of Tri Tin Company Limited. Seaweed products processed in the form of sheets or snacks (similar to the products currently imported from Korea & Japan) from Vietnamese seaweed sources will serve domestic consumption and export needs in the near future.

In recent years, there have been some studies and a few businesses investing in processing seaweed for food, pharmaceuticals and fertilizers such as the Hai Phong canning factory; some businesses in Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City but they are still small and of low quality. In particular, two product lines, seaweed sheets (nori) and dried seaweed for immediate consumption (snack), have not been produced by any business in Vietnam. Most of the products currently on the Vietnamese market are imported from Japan and Korea and these are two product lines that are very popular with domestic and international consumers.

In fact, in Vietnam there are many valuable seaweeds, including two species Porphyra and Monostroma with high nutritional value, with some similar characteristics that can be processed and produced into seaweed products in sheet form (nori) and dried seaweed (snack) like products from Japan and Korea, to meet domestic consumption and export needs. However, up to now, people still exploit natural and consume in raw form, causing waste and low efficiency. Recently, Tri Tin Company Limited has made many efforts in mobilizing and connecting with a number of scientists with experience in seaweed farming and processing from Nha Trang University, Nha Trang Institute of Technology Research and Application, with the support of the Department of Science & Technology and Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee to conduct scientific research, contributing to the development of seaweed farming and processing in Vietnam. With the encouragement and support of the Department of Science and Technology, the technical staff of Tri Tin Company Limited has made efforts to learn, experiment and initially achieved positive results in nori and snack products from Porphyra and Monostroma seaweed.

 II. PRODUCT PROCESSING AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
The project was implemented from November 2019 to November 2022; 30% of the budget was funded by the state budget and 70% was funded by the company. The research team investigated and counted the resources and the ability to naturally exploit seaweed species in Khanh Hoa sea according to the season based on the results of available documents; at the same time, they applied physical and chemical methods to measure the toughness, water content, and color change of the product... As a result, the research team built 4 technological processes with full parameters and equipment to produce 2 products in the form of sheets and dried seaweed from Porphyra seaweed; 2 products in the form of sheets and dried seaweed from Monostroma seaweed, along with 6.8 kg of various products, exceeding the requirements of the project by 1.8 kg. At the same time, 4 sets of basic standards were developed for 4 products from Porphyra and Monostroma seaweeds. The company has successfully designed and installed a drying, pressing and heating equipment to process the products, increasing added value.

 These 4 products were displayed and introduced at the TechFest - 2022 event in the South Central and Central Highlands regions held in Khanh Hoa, and were used by customers and highly appreciated for their quality. Currently, the unit is waiting for the Provincial People's Committee to issue a decision allowing businesses to register copyrights to bring them to market to serve consumers.

III. NUTRITIONALITY OF SEAWEED
Seaweed is considered a healthy food due to its high fiber content, low fat but rich in omega 3, containing many vitamins (A, B12), minerals such as calcium, sodium, iodine, magnesium... At the same time, seaweed contains antioxidants such as phlorotannin, carotenoid pigments, sulfate polysaccharides such as fucoidan and peptides. Due to its nutritional composition and many biologically active substances, seaweed has the ability to prevent and fight many metabolic disorders in the body including reducing cholesterol, reducing blood clotting, anti-inflammatory, reducing blood pressure, so seaweed is now considered an important functional food. Among the seaweed species used as food, porphyra seaweed is a species of seaweed with high nutritional value, widely used to produce sheet products used to roll sushi or season snacks.

IV. RESULTS OF THE PROJECT
The successful implementation of the project not only increases economic value, but also promotes people to gradually shift from natural exploitation and ineffective use to farming, exploitation and processing to create value-added products with higher economic value for the two species of seaweed Porphyra and Monostroma. The project will create new product lines with high added value from Vietnam's seaweed resources, create more jobs and increase income for coastal communities, promote economic restructuring in coastal rural areas towards rural industry, gradually forming a new rural model according to the Party's policy.

The results of the project have very high practical significance and value. Not only is it applied by enterprises immediately in their production activities, it has high economic efficiency, but it also has breakthrough significance, paving the way, promoting scientific and technological research activities in the field of post-harvest deep processing for other seaweed species, creating high added value for seaweed resources in Khanh Hoa in particular and the whole country in general.