Aker Executive vice president of sales and marketing, Matts Johansen, told NutraIngredients Aker’s Superba omega-3 krill oil would be added to an existing range of food supplements and debut in northern European countries within two months.
Johansen said the unnamed supplement company had committed to purchasing at least 30 tons of Superba by the end of 2011 – at a value of about €3.75m or €125 per kilogram.
“It is an important step that we have signed with our first major European brand, as important as the Schiff deal in the US,” Johansen said.
He said the European market was one to two years behind the North American market when it came to krill awareness among consumers.
Aker is supplying krill to more than 20 supplements companies in the EU since the novel foods approval came through, but many of them are developing krill products for the first time and therefore have longer lead times than the latest signee.
Health claims
Johansen said the next regulatory hurdle to be overcome was in the field of health claims where the company was finalising dossiers for appraisal by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
These would be submitted to the European Commission “within a month” and link krill consumption with cardiovascular and joint health benefits.
Other claims for brain health and the central nervous system were likely to follow.
“We are monitoring all the science and there is a lot of science due for publication over the next 1-2 years and this should move the situation forward for krill,” he said.
Aker’s EU novel foods approval was achieved when the Finnish Food Safety Authority deemed Superba substantially equivalent to rival Neptune Technologies & Bioressources’ krill version, NKO and subsequently ratified by the European Commission.
It meant Aker could join Neptune and another Norwegian supplier, JFM Sunile, in selling krill oil beyond the non-EU countries it had focused on such as Switzerland, Russia and Norway as well as the US.
Aker says it has about 2000 tons of krill warehoused and ready to meet customer demand.
Backgrounder
While krill sales account for less than €20m of a global omega-3 supply market estimated by Frost & Sullivan to grow to about €1.2bn in 2014, they are growing fast.
Euromonitor International expects annual volumes to reach 17,500 tonnes in 2013, from 13,000 in 2008.
But some commentators believe the nascent category is being held back by a bitter rivalry between Aker and Neptune that has resulted in several court cases about patent and other infringements, some of which are ongoing.