Controlling Quality in Fish Oil Production (Fish Oil Producers Confront a Sea of QC Issues)

Popularity comes with a price. Omega-3 fatty acids have achieved star status among dietary nutrients, thanks to widespread health benefits research and a growing number of ways consumers can purchase and take omega-3s. Fish oil has dominated this spotlight, as it continues to rack up positive results on major health issues such as inflammation, heart disease and mental development. However, meeting the higher demand in both volume and innovative delivery forms, fish oil products have faced specific quality control challenges. The key to the longevity of this market is in how fish oil producers address these issues.

Fish oil product quality focuses on two main issues: the health of the fish and the health of the humans consuming the fish oil. As a byproduct of fishing, crude fish oil production is affected by the health of the fish population. Different species have battled over-fishing, heavy metal contamination and varying omega-3 levels. On the other end, the health benefits linked to fish and fish oil consumption have indicated health benefits at specific doses, sometimes ratios, of the primary fish oil omega-3s, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Thus, it is important for fish oil products, like other dietary supplements, to contain what their labels promise.

Certain fish are rich in DHA and EPA due to the algae in their diets. This may be direct, or fish may eat other marine animals that have fed on omega-rich algae. The food chain is important in fish health and quality, as contamination can also work its way up the food chain. However, pollution around the world is also responsible for contaminated oceans and rivers. Methylmercury is the big, bad wolf of fish toxins, though fish can contain any number of heavy metals (cadmium, lead), PCBs, chloridane, DDT and dioxins. These toxins have greatly affected the seafood industry, as contamination levels in certain fish have risen dramatically over the past few decades.

Oceans Alive, an arm of the Environmental Defense watch group, maintains a list of fish differentiated by species known to contain high levels of mercury and other contaminants versus species thought to be low in toxins. Another resource is Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which maintains a number of resources on tracking marine mercury, which can have debilitating effects on brain and nervous system health in humans, especially children and pregnant women.