We sat down with business development manager, Peter Lambrechts, at Vitafoods Europe, fresh from winning a new product development award for its olive oil joint venture with Italian company, Costa d’Oro.
Of the European Union health claims imbroglio, Lambrechts said: “This is not fast-moving consumer electronics, this is slow-moving food ingredients. You don’t jump and get a health claim fast. You may even need to ask – do you need a health claim?”
“Actually behavioural scientists have found that people don’t even understand health claims.”
He said the company was looking at guidance and working toward a new health claim submission.
For the oil, studies reveal lipophilic coQ10 showed up in blood plasma at levels up to 2.5 times normal when 40mg were ingested with 30ml of olive oil per day.
The oil also contains vitamin E, D and K2, and sells at a premium over regular olive oils that sit alongside Costa d’Oro’s omega-3 oil.
Global food supplement sales come in at over €700m per year for a nutrient that has seen its price fluctuate wildly from as high as €2000/kg before an influx of mainly Chinese material saw prices drop drastically. Currently CoQ10 sells at around €800/kg.