Neptune Opens Krill Oil Plant with Improvements

Neptune Technologies & Bioressources (Laval, QC, Canada) is back to producing its signature NKO brand krill oil, after having relied on reserves for almost two years since the unfortunate explosion of its Sherbrooke, Quebec processing plant in November 2012.  Besides returning to its signature ingredient, the company is introducing initiatives that were in its innovation pipeline for some time now.

“Although we were a bit silent as far as not being able to produce our product, we maintained our innovation focus,” said Michel Timperio, Neptune vice president of global sales. He is speaking of features installed in Neptune’s expansion plant, which is now finished. Among several new perks, the plant houses a novel method of processing krill oil that the company refers to as its “polishing step.”

The polishing step, says Neptune, can remove impurities from krill oil-which reduces the oil’s marine odor-and improve the oil’s flowability. By lowering the viscosity of krill oil, Neptune thinks it will make encapsulation easier for contract manufacturers. The viscous nature of krill oil can apparently be a trouble to encapsulate. All oil produced at Neptune’s new plant gets the polishing step.

The krill company is also announcing that it has the ability to now fractionate ingredients in krill oil. “The composition of krill oil is phospholipid, omega, and astaxanthin,” says Timperio. “We have an ability now with new technology to increase whichever of these in a new formulation.”

That’s a lot to take in. And for those that remember Neptune’s earlier announcement of three condition-specific krill oil formulas, Neptune says they are now closer to commercialization. NKO Beat, Flex, and Focus products will combine krill oil with CoQ10, vitamin D, and lutein, respectively. The company says it has research confirming increased absorption of some of these nutrients when krill oil is their carrier inside of the human body. Timperio says these products might be commercially available as early as this fall.

Robby Gardner

Associate Editor

Nutritional Outlook magazine

robby.gardner@ubm.com