Neptune to almost quadruple krill oil capacity by 2014

By Elaine Watson

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Krill oil Neptune krill oil Nutrition

Krill: Packed with PUFAs
Krill: Packed with PUFAs
Canadian krill oil firm Neptune Technologies & Bioressources aims to ratchet up production capacity from 130,000kg/year to almost 500,000kg by 2014 to meet growing demand.

The company, which is also exploring new technologies that could boost its presence in the functional food market, was speaking to NutraIngredients-USA.com after announcing deals with two key distributors in the US.

Together, the distributors represented close to 30 percent of the US food, drug and mass merchandise nutraceuticals channel, claimed CFO André Godin. “Following initial commitments from these large distributors, we estimate a minimum volume of 50,000 kg per year.”

Sub-head

The first phase of the expansion at Neptune’s facility in Sherbrooke, Quebec, should be completed by March 2012, and would be achieved without a plant shutdown, said finance director Frédéric Harland.

Longer-term, Neptune was exploring other locations, he said. “We are considering a plant at a different location. I cannot disclose more on this matter.

“With what we have in our pipeline, we will need close to 500,000kg by 2014. The first phase will get us to 250,000kg, the second phase to 350,000, and the last one close to 500,000kg.”

Krill, claims and functional foods

US customers were making a range of structure/function claims on pack about Neptune’s krill oil, covering joint health, cardiovascular health, PMS and antioxidant benefits, said R&D director Wael Massrieh.

While the initial focus had been on dietary supplements, there had also been new developments on the functional foods front with NKO (Neptune Krill Oil) now successfully incorporated into “several foods including yogurt, health bars and some juices”,​ said Massrieh.

Although krill oil has more antioxidants in it than fish oil, and was therefore more stable, it was still quite challenging to use in some food applications, he said.

“[However], we recently discovered new technology that could be suitable to microencapsulate the oil that would offer a powder form of NKO which would be much easier to incorporate into more foods.”

Differentiation in the market

Neptune’s major rival in the krill oil market is Norwegian firm Aker Biomarine, which supplies the Superba krill oil brand.

However, Neptune's patented extraction process used “a better solvent, which ensures a better efficiency of oil extraction​”, was more stable, and higher in antioxidants, claimed Massrieh.

He added: ”To this day only Neptune has demonstrated clinically proven human health benefits in cardiovascular, joint, cognitive and women's health.”

Currency headaches

Neptune, which reported a 32 percent hike in sales to CAN $16.6m in 2011 had suffered from having to translate sales in US dollars to Canadian dollars, said Harland.

“A few years ago you’d get 1.25​ [Canadian dollars for one US dollar] and now you get 0.97 ​[Canadian dollars to one US dollar], which has a direct impact on our revenues as 65 percent of our sales are in US dollars.”

What is so special about krill oil?

Krill are deepwater marine planktonic crustaceans that look like tiny shrimps.

Nutritionally, krill oil is an excellent source of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, which are rendered more bioavilable because they are carried by phospholipids rather than triglycerides (as in fish oil). It also naturally contains antioxidants including astaxanthin, as well as vitamins E and A, which makes it more stable than other sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids, claimed Neptune.

The harvesting of Antarctic krill for human consumption (as opposed to fish feed) is relatively recent and is monitored by international organization the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

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Sustainability of Stocks: Krill Bill Part 3

Posted by James L. Wilmer, Ph. D.,

Can you imagine how many reproducing organisms must be in one gram of concentrated krill? I wonder how long the Antartic waters can sustain the removal of 1.1 million pounds of krill each year? And that's just one fishing company. Why can't we get more technologically proficient growing our own algae and extracting astaxanthin, vitamins, and omega-3 oils? Would a board member from the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources care to comment on replacement rates of krill under this sort of harvest pressure? Maybe the NSF would like to speak up.

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New biomass data reveals fish stocks more stable than believed

Posted by Wael Massrieh,

Another Article of interest:

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_biomass_data_reveals_fish_stocks_more_stable_than_believed_999.html

Fish and marine species are among the most treatened wildlife on earth, due partly to over exploitation by fishing fleets. The differences in assessing trends in worldwide fishing stocks stem from inappropriate use of time trends in catches. Estimates of fisheries status based on catches suggest thata round 30% of fisheries are collapsed and 70% are overexploited. Biomass data from scientific stock assessments indicated a much smaller proportion in these categories (12% collapsed, 26% overexploited), and that status trends are stable. Collapse is defined as biomass of less than 10% of unfished levels while over exploitation is defined by USA and Australia as biomass below 50% of biomass that would produce maximum sustained catches. Bomass data can be used to ground truth catch trends, revealing that catch data greatly overestimates the percentage of stocks collapsed and overexploited. Instead of focusing on what we take out of the oceans (catches) we should be examining the actual state of the ecosystem (biomass data). Catch data produce seriously biased estimates of what is going on in ocean ecosystems

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WWF on krill: "World’s largest under-exploited fishery"

Posted by Wael Massrieh,

Please follow this link that discusses Perception versus reality of Krill fiheries.

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Industry/Neptune-to-almost-quadruple-krill-oil-capacity-by-2014

Here are some quotes from that article:

“One of the biggest challenges we are facing right now is that the perception of the sustainability of krill is not matching the reality,”

"There are quite a few dramatic stories circulating that aren’t really describing an accurate picture.”

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