Marketing Omega-3 Products as Nutraceuticals

Abstract

Efamol Ltd has been one of the leading fatty acid supplement manufacturers for some 30 years. It has a tradition of marketing science and research based. products and with sales in more than 25 countries is one of the few international companies in this field.The market for omega-3 products, fuelled by a succession of positive reports in the media, is currently undergoing a period of significant growth. Recent estimates value the European market for omega-3 based supplements at over US$200 million and the global market at over US$700 million. Growth rates are estimated at 8% per annum with individual markets such as the UK showing growth significantly in excess of that figure.Dividing the marketing of omega-3 oils into either 'business to business' i.e predominantly as a bulk or raw material ingredient or 'business to consumer' i.e. as finished product there are some fundamental differences in the product propositions and key positioning criteria.ln both cases however, somewhat surprisingly, the source of the oil is not important, whether it comes from tuna or bonito, menhaden or mackerel does not really matter and usually is not even disclosed. As a raw material of primary importance is the fatty acid composition specifically in terms of EPA and DHA and a number of fish oil 'categories' have been created and defined by the relative contents of these two fatty acids, e.g:

Effect of orange dietary fibre, oregano essential oil and packaging conditions on shelf-life of bologna sausages

“…Many components may be added to meat, dairy, fish or vegetable-based products to make them ''functional" (Pérez-Alvarez & Fernández-López, 2009), among them x-3 fatty acids (Clough, 2008), prebiotics (Wang, 2009), probiotics (Vuyst, Falony, & Leroy, 2008), fibre (Fernández-López, Sendra, Sayas-Barberá , Navarro & Pé rez -Alvarez, 2008;Sendra et al, 2008), etc.…”

Quality Evaluation of Functional Chicken Nuggets Incorporated with Ground Carrot and Mashed Sweet Potato

“…The reduction of fat in meat products, however, poses newer challenges as leaner meat produces products with firmer texture, which are drier, less succulent and less tasty than standard products (Crehan et al, 2000). To offset this detrimental effect, manufacturer have introduced several useful modifications, and among these, uses of vegetables as a non-meat ingredient is one of the better options as it conveyed desirable texture, enhanced water-binding capacity, reduced cost of the production and improved nutritional value (Serdaroglu et al, 2005;Choi et al, 2007;Clough, 2008;Eim et al, 2008;Vuyst et al, 2008;Wang, 2009;Viuda-Martos et al, 2010). The diet prevailing in many industrialized countries is characterized by an excess of energy-dense food rich in fat, but with a deficiency of complex carbohydrates which constitute major portion of dietary fiber (DF;Fernandez-Gines et al, 2004).…”

Effect of banana and soybean hull flours on vacuum-packaged chicken nuggets during refrigeration storage

“…, 2005), prebiotics (Wang, 2009), probiotics (Vuyst et al. , 2008), polyunsaturated fatty acids (Clough, 2008) and antioxidants (Eim et al. , 2008).…”

“…In the recent years, scientific evidence confirming the relationship between food and health promoted the rapid development of new food market, the functional food market (Viuda-Martos et al, 2010). The functional food products are generally produced by the reformulation of meat by incorporating health-producing ingredients such as fibres (Hur et al, 2009), proteins (Fernandez-Gines et al, 2005, prebiotics (Wang, 2009), probiotics (Vuyst et al, 2008), polyunsaturated fatty acids (Clough, 2008) and antioxidants (Eim et al, 2008). The inclusion of fibres in meat system improves functional properties through their solubility, viscosity, gel-forming ability, water-binding capacity, oil adsorption capacity and mineral-and organic molecule-binding capacity, which affects product quality and characteristics (Tungland & Meyer, 2002).…”