Fish processors miss omega-3 opportunity

Many fish processors are losing out on extra income by failing to extract and sell the omega-3 oils from their by-products, according to one seafood expert.

“A number of companies are involved in selling on leftover raw material, but they are doing it the old fashioned way - by selling it as offal,” said Antarctic Fishing Incorporated’s business development manager Øistein Jakobsen, speaking at Sealed Air Cryovac’s 2nd Fish & Seafood Packaging and Marketing conference in Paris. “There are very big functional food and supplement markets, but only some fish processors are taking advantage of the opportunity to sell omega-3.”

Formerly a project manager at Marine Harvest, Jakobsen claimed that the processor was already using fish trimmings to make omega-3. “Other processors need a wake-up call,” he said. “If you start to break down all the parts of the fish that can be used, the economy is very good. Some of the big biotechnology players are buying oil refineries and extraction plants, but the fish industry owns the raw material, so they could start to expand in the other direction and the two will eventually meet in the middle.”

However, he warned fish processors that becoming an omega-3 supplier was a gradual process. “They should first establish the business links that are needed and take it step by step,” he advised. “It’s a new way of thinking - you need a new value chain to be able to sell your products and new knowledge within your business. You need to respect the raw material as being a high-grade product, rather than a low one.”