International Companies Form New Omega-3 Trade Association

A group of international companies have come together to form a new omega-3 trade association called the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3 (GOED Omega-3). The Association met officially for the first time on Oct. 6 during Expo East in Baltimore, MD.

The meeting was intended to act as a jumpstart to this international not-for-profit trade association, which is committed to increasing the market and regulatory approvals for EPA- and DHA-based products, developing EPA and DHA consumer awareness and education strategies, and implementing quality standards and other measures that will protect the omega-3 EPA/DHA category. The second meeting is scheduled to take place during SupplySide West in Las Vegas on Oct. 19 (see http://www.supplysideshow.com/west/ for complete details on SupplySide West).

GOED Omega-3 is comprised of EPA and DHA omega-3 industry processors, refiners, manufacturers, distributors, marketers and retailers, as well as secondary associates and other interested parties, including health-care professionals, educators and researchers. Based on the commitment from the initial 12 founding members, a new office for the trade association has opened in Salt Lake City, UT. Current founding member companies are:

* Cargill;
* Ceres Consulting;
* Croda;
* Denofa;
* EPAX;
* Loders Croklaan;
* Lonza/Nutranova;
* Marine Nutraceuticals;
* Martek Biosciences;
* Napro Pharma AS;
* Ocean Nutrition Canada;
* Omega Pure.

The founding members of GOED Omega-3 were all members of the CRN Omega-3 Working Group, which has been dissolved in favor of the new trade association. The new trade association will build on the accomplishments of the old Working Group, including its product-quality focus and industry acceptance of the voluntary omega-3 monograph, and take on a broader mandate more suited to a trade association.

The GOED Omega-3 "Start-up" Committee consists of Robert Orr, president and CEO, Ocean Nutrition Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Philip Fass, vice president of sales and marketing, Martek Biosciences, Columbia, MD; Bjorn Rene, vice president of sales, Napro Pharma, Brattvåg, Norway; and Ian Newton, president, Ceres Consulting, Markham, Ontario.

"A GOED Omega-3 membership provides companies with an unprecedented opportunity--to become architects of a new, positive self-regulatory industry framework that will hopefully be implemented worldwide," said Orr. "There is a huge nutrition gap that will not begin to close until regulations are updated to reflect the results of thousands of clinical studies--only then will be the public begin to have access to the daily amount of omega-3 EPA and DHA their bodies need to reap the health benefits. This is one of the new association's goals."

Fass said, "We have had a very positive initial response to the new trade association, so we are expanding our membership to other companies who are interested in joining our effort. Our target is to have a membership of at least 30 companies by the end of the 2006 calendar year."

For more information, contact Lindsay Wright at 801/746-1413 or [email protected].