Blue Ocean Barns, a public benefit corporation, has received authorization from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for the commercial use of the company’s seaweed-based supplement Brominata as a digestive aid for cattle.

The approval followed a successful trial at Straus Organic Dairy Farm in Marin County, the largest and longest yet conducted with seaweed and dairy cows. CDFA’s Safe Animal Feed Education Program provided technical assistance, feed sampling, and analysis during the trial.

Shortly after the approval, three dairy companies—Ben & Jerry’s, Straus Family Creamery, and Clover Sonoma—announced they would begin rolling out the natural seaweed supplement for their cows as they move to cut the greenhouse gas footprint of their farm operations.

Brominata is a dehydrated form of a red seaweed that Blue Ocean Barns grows in land-based tanks near the company’s dual headquarters in Kailua-Kona, HI, and San Diego, CA. Farmers add Brominata to their cows’ diet at a small rate of 0.3%, regardless of whether the cattle eat grass, hay, alfalfa or another basic feed

A major reduction in livestock-generated methane gases could significantly slow the progress of climate change, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Studies at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Oxford have concluded that methane reductions can actually have a cooling effect on the climate. Global methane emissions are generated predominantly by the agriculture industry and are more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over the first two decades of release. About a quarter of all methane emissions worldwide come from cattle enteric fermentation (cow burps).

“We are working closely with food industry leaders eager to achieve rigorously verified and auditable greenhouse gas reductions within their own supply chains,” said Joan Salwen, co-founder and CEO of Blue Ocean Barns. “Ben & Jerry’s, Straus Family Creamery, and Clover Sonoma are pioneering companies directly engaging their farmers and processors to ensure their collective success in direct reduction of methane emissions.”

Over the past four years, multiple studies by major universities have shown Brominata is safe for cows and doesn’t change the chemistry or taste of milk or meat.

Following the Straus trial, Blue Ocean Barns’ independent conclusion that the product is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) was reviewed by California’s Commercial Feed Regulatory Program and Livestock Drug Program. Those two programs have regulatory oversight and authority over all commercial livestock feeds and livestock drugs/remedies sold within or into the state.

CDFA issued a “No Objections Letter” and granted provisional certificates of registration for both the certified organic and non-organic formulations of Brominata, approving both labels under the state’s Livestock Drug Program.

Animal scientists for decades have tested a number of feed additives—garlic, lemongrass, as well as synthetic ingredients—aimed at reducing methane outputs from cow burps. Those emissions account for about 4% of all greenhouse gas produced globally each year.

But none of those other supplements reduced nearly the amount of greenhouse gas as the red seaweed called Asparagopsis taxiformis; still, that seaweed has never been cultivated at scale.

Blue Ocean Barns began ramping up production on a commercial level beginning in 2020 to serve Straus Family Creamery and other farm families throughout the state.