EU approves new vegetarian omega-3 source

UK-based supplier Croda Health Care has won European Union Novel Foods approval for a vegetable oil-sourced, omega-3 ingredient, as it expands its omega-3 offerings.

 Croda said “major European companies”
were interested in the vegetarian potential of the ingredient to
deliver heart, brain and other health benefits.

The European Commission approval,
according to the company, applies to milk and yoghurt-based drinks,
cereals, nutrition bars and food supplements.

The ingredient, called Incromega V3,
would feature in soft gel food supplements in the UK by year’s end
with other European markets to follow. It was already being used in
food supplements in the US after it achieved New Dietary Ingredient
status there earlier in the year.

Incromega V3 is an oil extracted from
the echium plant which is grown in the UK and has a similar lipid
profile to borage oil and blackcurrant oil.

Croda has been active in the omega-3
area, recently launching a krill/fish oil suite of ingredients in
conjunction with Canadian krill oil supplier, Neptune Technologies &
Bioresources.

It used this year’s VitaFoods show to
debut a relatively unknown omega-3 form – docosapentaenoic acid
(DPA) – a 22-chain omega-3 as is DHA.

Market researcher Frost & Sullivan
put the European omega-3 market at about €187m in 2007, and
predicted it would grow to 820m by 2014 – a compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 23.6 per cent.