Texas-Based Omega-3 Algae Grower Predicts Commercial-Scale Production by End of Year

Jerusalem-based microalgae grower Qualitas Health predicts that its U.S. facility in Imperial, TX, is on track to begin producing commercial quantities of omega-3–rich algae ingredients by the year’s end. The site recently completed its first, successful industrial-scale algae harvest and omega-3 oil production.

For the past 10 years, Qualitas Health has performed algae cultivation for the biofuel sector. The company says that is expertise in strain selection, algae farming, harvesting, and oil processing enables it to produce premium, omega-3 algal oil for other industries, including the dietary supplements market.

“We are pleased that our first significant algae harvest and production of omega-3 oil has met the highest standards of consistency, quality, and purity,” said Isaac Berzin, PhD, founder and chief technology officer, in a press release.

He said that conditions at the Texas site are ideal for algae growing. At the site, algae is grown outdoors in open ponds.

At the end of this year, the company also expects to file a new dietary ingredient notification to FDA on what it says is its flagship product, an “EPA-rich polar lipid-structured omega-3.” The company extracts its omega-3 oil thanks to a license from algae extraction specialist Valicor Renewables to a “patented wet-extraction technology [that] preserves the omega-3 molecules’ polar lipid structure. This cutting-edge process uses less energy than conventional dry methods, and the resulting product has been clinically proven to enhance omega-3 bioavailability.”