A ‘breakthrough year’ for algae omega-3

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A ‘breakthrough year’ for algae omega-3 (Undercurrent News)

  • Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) derived from marine algae are now a “viable alternative” to fish oil, marking the start of a more sustainable future for aqua feed and aquaculture.
  • According to European firm Veramaris, opening its new commercial-sized feed plant in Nebraska has enabled it to potentially satisfy 15% of the demand for EPA and DHA from the global salmon industry.
  • Together with the production from Dutch food and chemicals firm Corbion, the global EPA and DHA algae production is estimated to stand at 10,000MT in 2019, increasing to 15,000t next year.
  • According to Jon Tarlebo, managing director of Norwegian fishmeal and fish oil firm, Norsildmel, all major salmon companies in Norway are looking at EPA and DHA from algae, with trials or commercial usage for salmon at certain stages of maturity underway.

Analysis and Comments

  • With the main news flow on algae usually being around providing omega-3 fatty acids for fish feed, it is easy to forget that its potential use cases are a lot more diverse.
  • Corbion, for example, has just announced a partnership with Nestlé on the development of next generation microalgae-based ingredients for plant-based products.
  • Compared to competitor Veramaris (JV between DSM and Evonik), Corbion’s portfolio is much more diverse, as they can produce a wide range of algal ingredients such as palm oil mimic, cooking oil as well as omega 3 for fish feed, the main product for now.
  • It is good to see Corbion partnering with food giants like Nestlé to explore further opportunities for its algal platform and we will monitor the progress of this new partnership going forward.


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6 comments
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I used to follow Solazyme which is the basis of Corbion's algae platform. The technology is absolutely amazing, precisely because of its ability to scale in controlled fermentation vats. The sad part is the high cost and lack of investment in the industry that has thus far hindered heterotrophic algaes adoption. This is changing thanks to companies like Corbion and Veramis. It is just disappointing that ridiculously low oil prices (subsidized by lack of environmental cost controls) and overall apathy towards long term investment continues to stall out this future industrys potential.

For those looking at something tangible and here now, look up Thrive culinary algae oil. Its made by Corbion and is one of the healthiest cooking oils on the market today with a neutral taste and very high smoke point.

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Thank you for such a good insight into Corbion's technology, I will definitely look at the cooking oïl you are talking about.
Thank you again for passing by.
Best,
@vlemon

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Sure thing. To be specific, corbions algae has a very wide scope of products it can go into because it serves as a fats/protein replacement. Specifically it has the ability to replace eggs and butter with an enhanced overall health profile and favorable taste/texture characteristics. Everything from baked goods to ice cream can be improved And while sadly ready now, money to scale up operations and the very slow pace of change in food is whats really holding things back. Ive actually tasted many of these products myself so needless to say im pretty excited of the many directions nestle can move this into. All the same, its disappointing to me to know itll likely be several years before any of this hits mainstream shelves because of how slow the industry moves.

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Hey there...are you using discord?

If so, could you reach me there? I need to ask you something. mindtrap#9035

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