Spirulina - From growth to nutritional product: A review

Background: Spirulina is multicellular and filamentous cyanobacteria that have achieved a considerable popularity in the health sector, food industry and aquacultures. It develops and grows in water, can be harvested and processed easily. It has very high content of macro and micronutrients, essential amino acids, proteins, lipids, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. Spirulina is considered as a complete food supplement to fight against malnutritional deficiencies in developing countries. Spirulina is deemed safe for human consumption as evident by its long history of food use and latest scientific findings. In recent years, Spirulina has gathered enormous attention from research fraternity as well as industries as a flourishing source of nutraceutical and pharmaceuticals. Scope and approach: The primary objective of this paper is to review the utilization of Spirulina as a dietary supplement in the food industry. In the present work, the three main area of Spirulina research: growth, harvesting and potential application are presented. Key findings and conclusion: The important growth parameters have been studied to enhance Spirulina biomass productivity qualitatively and quantitatively. This review provides useful information on commercially viable technology for Spirulina cultivation. Mass cultivation and Innovative formulations are further needed to fortify conventional foods with Spirulina based protein system. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.