AlaskOmega Forms New Company to Bring MSC-Certified Omega-3, Omega-7 Ingredients to the European Market, Ahead of Vitafoods Europe 2018

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Organic Technologies (Coshocton, OH), the supplier of AlaskOmega omega-3 and omega-7 ingredients, announced that it is opening a new company, AlaskOmega AG, to meet the growing demand in Europe for omega-3 and omega-7 oils and concentrates certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Organic Technologies says that this new company will provide the European market with AlaskOmega bulk finished goods and packaged products, in addition to AlaskOmega’s full range of bulk fish oils, omega-3, and omega-7 concentrates. The company says that AlaskOmega AG will also provide MSC-certified finished dosage form products to select countries outside Europe on request.

The Marine Stewardship Council is a nonprofit organization that sets standards for sustainable fishing practices. The MSC certification process involves assessment of fisheries’ management and sustainability practices by an independent team of experts. Only marine products that can be traced back through the supply chain to an MSC-certified fishery are able to feature the MSC-certified logo on a finished product.

Martin Mueller, managing director of the new firm AlaskOmega AG, told Nutritional Outlook that the European market is especially promising for MSC-certified fish oils because sustainability is highly important to European consumers. He said that European consumers have come to recognize the MSC logo on fish food products, and they make food-purchasing decisions based on the presence of that logo. However, he said, “this has not happened for the supplement products in Europe, possibly due to missing solutions for the many differentiated supplement products.” He continued: “We have therefore increased our overall portfolio with new SKUs to be able to provide solutions for as many products as possible. We see the other European countries [are] walking the same path and introducing more and more sustainable product concepts, as customers are more and more demanding them.”

In a press statement from the Organic Technologies, the company stated that AlaskOmega AG provides its customers with a “fully turnkey solution with the ability to match a customer’s specific label claim and other key product requirements.” In addition, AlaskOmega AG’s extended service offering includes softgel applications, liquids, tablets, and hardshell capsules, with additional dosage forms currently under development.
 
“Our customers benefit from our established network of manufacturing partners to ensure 100% certified traceability and maximum supply-chain flexibility to help reduce the complexity of a customer’s product supply,” said Mueller in a press statement from the company. “By offering a full suite of services and products, we can accelerate a customer’s time to market with new products, guaranteeing consistent, [and] high-quality product delivery by using only MSC-certified AlaskOmega Ingredients for formulation/reformulation projects.”

And, although the omega-3 market has seen its share of ups and downs in recent years, Mueller believes that it is still a market with serious growth potential. “The overall omega-3 market is and will still be growing over the next years. The traditional dosage forms for fish oils (softgels/bottled oils) still count for a major part of the market, but retail brands and manufacturers [are also renewing] their portfolios with new applications to open up further customer segments, or [are substituting] traditional formulas with more sophisticated, higher concentrated, or more bioavailable ones.”

New clinical research will help grow the omega-3 category, as well, he said. “Additional clinical studies will support new indications to back up new product concepts, but there is still plenty of room for future developments, especially towards the functional food area, which will fuel the growth of the omega-3 market and give industry players sufficient opportunities to differentiate their products in the market.”

AlaskOmega will be highlighting its range of MSC-certified omega-3 and omega-7 concentrates, as well as its customer bulk/packaged finished products at this year’s Vitafoods Europe trade show, which is scheduled to take place from May 15-17 in Geneva, Switzerland.

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