# Biomolecules from Microalgae and Cyanobacteria: Applications and Market Survey
## 3 Current Uses of Microalgae and Cyanobacteria in Industry
### Microalgae and Cyanobacteria as Food, Dietary Supplements, and Feed
The aqueous extract of this blue-green microalgae, rich in natural phycocyanin colorant, was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at a maximum level of 2 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) to be safely used in coloring confections and in dietary supplement tablets and capsules (www.accessdata.fda.gov, accessed on 10 December 2020). Different companies are currently producing phycobiliprotein around the world, such as Parry Nutraceuticals (Pudukkottai District, Unaiyur, Tamil Nadu, India), Kyanos nutrition (Toulouse, France), and Greensea (Meze, France), which produce C-PC, R-PC, APC, R-PE, and B-PE. Algosource Technology (Saint Nazaire, France) is developing different extracts from _Arthrospira platensis_ (Cyanobacteria), which are Spirulysat, an aqueous extract rich in phycocyanin and Spirugrass, a fraction from the biorefining of _Spirulina_, rich in amino acids, iron, vitamin K, and beta-carotenes. _Spirulina_ diet supplements are advantageous \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Industry** & **Product Name** & **Microalgae/Microfungi Strain** & **Specificity/Description** \\ \hline AlgaTechnologies Ltd. (Hevel Elto, Israel) & FucoVital\({}^{\text{TM}}\) & _Phacadistribution treatment_ & FucoXanthin \\  & & (Bacillierophyta) & \\ [[https://www.algatech.com/](https://www.algatech.com/)]([https://www.algatech.com/](https://www.algatech.com/)), & & _Haumatecoxins_ & \\ accessed on 29 March 2021 & & _Iacusris_(Chlorophyta) & Astaxanthin \\ \hline Fuji Chemical Industries & & & \\ (Toyama, Japan) [[http://www.fujchemical.cojp/](http://www.fujchemical.cojp/)]([http://www.fujchemical.cojp/](http://www.fujchemical.cojp/)), & & (Chlorophyta) & Astaxanthin \\  & & & \\  & & & \\ \hline Cyanotech (Kaluz-Kona, & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\ \hline Progress Biotech (Capelle an & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\
**Nutraceuticalials** & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\ \hline Parry nutraceuticals & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\ \hline Kyanos nutrition (Toulouse, & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\ \hline BASF (Ludwighafen, & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\ \hline Algosource (Saint Nazaire, & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & & \\  & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: _Cont._for athletes, women during pregnancy and lactation, malnourished children, and even for cosmonauts in long space travels. _Chlorella_ is also considered an exceptional source of proteins, especially in its hot water extract, known as _Chlorella_ growth factor (CGF), rich in amino acids, vitamins, peptides, minerals, and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). It was demonstrated to promote growth and healing, stimulate the immune system, and control body weight and serum lipid content [95]. _Chlorella_ production has doubled, as it was 2000 tons.year\({}^{-1}\) in 2003 [96], to be over 5000 tons.year\({}^{-1}\)[39]. The largest _Chlorella_ producers are situated in Taiwan. Its commercial market value is around one billion US dollars [94]. The global algae protein market will exceed USD 1 billion by 2026; algae protein capsules demand, mainly by sports athletes, will increase by over 6% by the same year. In 2018, dietary supplements represented about 42% of the global algae protein market, simultaneously with the expansion of the nutraceuticals industry in China, Japan, and India. Other microalgae or their extracts, such as _Dunaliella_, _Haematococcus_, _Scenedesmus_ (Chlorophyta), _Aphanizomenon_ (Cyanobacteria), _Odontella_ (Bacillariophyta), _Porphyridium_ (Rhodophyta), _Schizochytririum_, and _Ulkenia_ (Marine Fungi), have been accepted in food and health-food markets [93].