BPS to Serve Plant-Based “Seaweed-ish™” Kelp Meatballs and Sliders at All Schools through 2026
Boston, MA – North Coast Seafoods, a leading Boston-based supplier of premium quality, sustainable seafood across the U.S., has renewed their food supplier partnership with Boston Public Schools for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, focusing on their locally-sourced Maine Kelp (seaweed) products.
This partnership renewal of the Maine Kelp Program through 2026 emphasizes the success of the pilot program and deepens the school district’s commitment to providing thousands of Boston students, grades K-12, across over 100 schools with local, sustainable, and super-nutritious plant-based food options such as Kelp Sliders and Kelp Veggie Meatballs.
Kelp is not only a nutrient-dense superfood but also has tremendous positive impacts on our oceans while it’s growing. Kelp is a regenerative, zero-input crop that mitigates the impacts of climate change by absorbing carbon from our waters. BPS will serve Kelp Sliders as their Local Veggie Burger twice per month and Kelp Meatballs as their Veggie Meatball Sub once per month.
Kelp Sliders and Meatballs are a one-of-a-kind plant-based product that is trendy, delicious, healthy, and effortless to prepare. These menu items are naturally vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free, with a clean label list of ingredients composed primarily of kelp, green chickpeas, brown rice, and spices, rewarding a bright, herby, fresh flavor profile and umami richness.
“The meals we serve our young people not only need to be nutritious, but also tasty, locally-sourced, sustainable, culturally relevant meals that will give them the fuel they need to succeed,” said Boston Public Schools’ Superintendent Mary Skipper. “In the past few years, BPS has made great strides in overhauling our food and nutrition services program to bring cooking on-site back to our schools, and with partners like North Coast Seafoods, we’ll continue this work to provide delicious meals to all of our students. “
For added education and support of this continued partnership, North Coast Seafoods will conduct tastings and demonstrations at schools throughout Boston Public Schools to share the benefits of kelp for the ocean, coastal economy, and the tremendous nutrition profile kelp provides.
“As a company with a deeply-anchored legacy of sustainability that calls Boston home, North Coast continuously seeks ways to reduce our environmental impact and support our local economy, striving to play our role as a small part of the solution rather than the problem,” states Chef Andrew Wilkinson, North Coast’s Chef Director of Research and Development. “We are incredibly proud to supply Boston students, faculty, and staff with a delicious, nutrient-dense, local, and sustainable product that positively impacts our oceans, communities, and environment.”
What is Kelp?
Kelp is a variety of seaweed that is native to our New England coastline. Think of it as a sea vegetable.
North Coast proudly partners with Atlantic Sea Farms (Biddeford, ME), a mission-driven seaweed aquaculture company, to source the star ingredients, Sugar Kelp and Skinny Kelp, which are sustainably rope-grown by local fishing families on small scale open ocean farms in the clean, cold waters of New England.
North Coast and Atlantic Sea Farms recently won the Climate Award at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Tastemakers Awards.
“As we work to increase opportunities in regenerative aquaculture, we’re proud to partner with North Coast Seafoods to expand the market for domestically-farmed kelp.” says Bri Warner, Atlantic Sea Farms CEO. “We’re thrilled that the Boston Public School system continues to offer this highly nutritious, locally farmed seaweed to students, as it engages young people in their regional food system with a product that supports the health of our oceans and our coastal communities for future generations to come.”
Kelp (multiple species) is also verified by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) as a Gulf of Maine Responsibly Harvested® species.
Why Kelp?
Kelp is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet – a natural boost for our students’ health and well-being.
This powerhouse superfood is packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant-promoting phytochemicals. Kelp is a great source of iodine, magnesium, potassium, iron, folic acid, Vitamin A + B12, and more calcium per ounce than milk!
Beyond being a superfood, kelp is a climate-hero crop that grows regeneratively and efficiently, requiring no arable land, no fresh water, and no pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, or irrigation to be grown.Kelp absorbs excess carbon and nitrogen from the ocean, which improves water quality and locally mitigates the effects of ocean acidification. The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99% of the world’s oceans, and Atlantic Sea Farms partners with lobstermen to grow the kelp in their off seasons as a way to diversify their incomes in the face of climate change, creating more resilient fisheries to ensure future generations can continue working on the water.
Through their unified commitment to regularly serving North Coast’s “Seaweed-ish” Kelp Meatballs and Sliders, Boston Public Schools has reinforced their dedication to sustainable, nutritious, responsibly-sourced local food across their district.”
Click here to learn more about Kelp and why we should all be eating more of it. For more information on North Coast Seafoods’ history of sustainable practices, please visit: www.northcoastseafoods.com.
About North Coast Seafoods:
Founded in 1957, North Coast is a family-owned, Boston-based, quality-obsessed Seafood company committed to providing a consistent supply of the highest quality, sustainable seafood to the finest restaurants, retailers, foodservice, educational institutions, and home-cooks around the country.
We proudly collaborate with leading international and local sustainability organizations, including the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), to ensure our seafood adheres to the strictest sustainability standards.
North Coast is dedicated to sharing the joy of extraordinary seafood while remaining “Anchored with Integrity”. For more information, please visit: www.northcoastseafoods.com.
About Atlantic Sea Farms:
Atlantic Sea Farms is a woman-run, mission-driven seaweed farming company. We are dedicated to making a powerful and positive impact on the health of our customers, our coastal communities, and our planet by creating delicious products made from regeneratively farmed sea greens. Since 2019, Atlantic Sea Farms has removed approximately 500,000 lbs. of carbon from Maine’s coastal oceans. For more information, please visit www.atlanticseafarms.com.
