Lucas Altepost, vice president of sales and marketing at the firm, said a patented extraction process enabled it to remove omega-3s from fresh salmon rather than the fish meal that is the source of most omega-3 ingredients.
This meant extracting the virgin oil within 24 hours of the fish being killed.
Such a process was possible due to the start-ups’ parent, Hofseth International, being a large processor of fish which gave the new operation, “value chain control”.
Its new facility is set for an official launch by Norwegian government officials on August 30, 2011,
“Most fish oil suppliers use heat and boiling to extract the oils – we use enzymes,” he said of a process that has been 10 years in development.
No pricing details were revealed as the company said these would be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
Trials
Clinical trials were underway for which promising results had been shown for the ingredients’ ability to benefit LDL cholesterol levels.
“We are not quite sure why yet, but the results have been very promising in lowering LDL cholesterol compared to other fish oils,” Altepost said. “The trials are ongoing We are not making any claims about it yet but the indications are good.”
The company has begun discussions with potential clients “in the health food chain” in the US, Europe and Asia, with functional foods and food supplements. Health practitioners were also being assessed.
Hofseth Biocare also extracts protein and calcium forms from the salmon it harvests.
Sjur Jenssen, CEO of Hofseth Biocare said in a statement: “The oil is very stable and all of the natural constituents are preserved, thus the oil even has a natural pink salmon color. While the industry is focused on the specification, we are focused on human clinical trials that have shown activity far beyond anything we’ve seen in the marketplace.”
But the trials are not expected to appear in peer review journals until at least 2012.