THE OILY PRESS

Edited by Harald Breivik of Neperdo Biomarine, Porsgrunn, Norway. Published 2007, ISBN-13: 978-0-9552512-1-4 (ISBN-10: 9552512-1-4).

On this page you can read the Editor's Preface and reviews of this book written in the scientific literature. For more details of the chapters and to buy the book, please see the main Long-Chain Omega-3 Specialty Oils web page.

Go to main Long-Chain Omega-3 Specialty Oils web page

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Preface | Reviews

Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids have become an important topic both in the scientific community and in our everyday life, and we encounter them in pharmaceutical formulations and health supplements, as well as in numerous food applications outside the area of traditional seafood. For all these uses, omega-3 fatty acids pose a number of technological challenges. Those who have been so lucky as to taste fresh cod or saithe (coley, coalfish) served with its liver, and crisp bread to dip into the fatty juice, will have experienced that there hardly exists a foie gras that tastes as well as the fat from absolutely fresh fish liver. However, once the fish oil has left its original state and arrived at its well-known rancid smell and taste, the return journey to pleasant sensory characteristics faces chemical and technological obstacles, and it is only recently that we have come close to reaching the destination.

Today, the future for long-chain omega-3 fatty acids looks very promising. This will be a future that is built on scientific development. This book aims at deepening the understanding of technological aspects of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids by presenting updated scientific information on the selection of raw materials, processing methods, and how to stabilize and concentrate the products. The book also gives an overview of regulatory and marketing issues. The markets are wide - from refined and stabilized oils in food applications to highly concentrated products with well-documented pharmacological effects in pharmaceutical formulations.

The book starts with an introductory chapter giving an overview of the wide range of topics concerning omega-3 fatty acids, including a discussion of how these fatty acids are formed in plants and animals, physiological and medical effects of omega-3 fatty acids, and the importance of chain length. This is followed by chapters discussing the wide variety of fish oil sources, as well as oils obtained from the fermentation of single cell organisms. Separate chapters give information on state-of-art processing of fish oils and methods for making concentrates of omega-3 fatty acids, including a chapter on enzymatic processing and concentration strategies. The next two chapters go into details regarding the stabilization and utilization of omega-3 fatty acids for various food applications. This is followed by a chapter dealing with the challenging aspects of the analysis of omega-3 fatty acids and their decomposition products. The next chapter is dedicated to regulatory issues, and the final chapter gives an up-to-date survey of the various markets for long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

It has been interesting to note that, reflecting important public awareness and discussion, the different authors in this book voice varied opinions of the challenges of sustainable fisheries, environmental pollution, and genetic modification issues.

The authors originate from Australia, Canada, the USA, China, Thailand and several European countries. I am grateful to them for accepting the invitation to contribute to the book. Together with the other authors I am grateful to the Oily Press publisher, Peter J. Barnes, and editor, Beverley White, for help and inspiration, and for converting the manuscripts into a handsome volume. We all hope that the book will be useful for our readers, both the newcomer as well as the experienced participant, in the fields of the quality advancement, production and marketing of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

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Catherine Watkins, Associate Editor, AOCS Inform magazine, Urbana, Illinois, USA, writing in the April 2008 issue of Inform (2008, vol.19, No.4, p.264)....

Is there anyone left that doesn't know that long-chain omega-3 fatty acids are the best thing since sliced bread to which they are now added for their presumed positive health effects?

Very likely not, and this excellent compendium of wide-ranging articles explains why that is so. The book is not concerned with nutrition, per se, although most authors begin with a brief review of the emerging science that is fuelling the growth of the market. Instead, the book aims to provide an historical and global overview for those "working to develop, manufacture, and market long-chain omega-3 oils and the food, drink, and pharmaceutical products containing them."

Frank Gunstone sets the tone with his introduction in which he lays out the nomenclature used throughout the book and looks at biosynthetic pathways as well as dietary sources of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA). He provides a good literature review of work on the physiological/medical effects of LC-PUFA and examines whether chain length matters. Finally, he covers recommendations on dietary intake levels and finishes with a word on stability. This article alone should be required reading for anyone needing a portrait in broad brushstrokes of the topic.

Succeeding chapters focus on specific aspects of the LC-PUFA market, including a review of fish oil sources, which looks at the history, worldwide production, global trade and usage of fish oil and fishmeal. Additional chapters review the production, processing, and markets for LC-PUFA from microbial oils, from marine oils, and via enzymatic processing of omega-3 specialty oils. editor Harald Breivik of Neperdo Biomarine in Porsgrunn, Norway, takes on the subject of fish-oil concentrates, including the many fractionation techniques available to producers and the issue of stability.

Reto Muggli's chapter on applications in food products is particularly well written and includes a fascinating history of early research on essential fatty acids as well as model recipes and a discussion of general approaches to "solving the fishy taste and smell problem." The technical challenges to using LC-PUFA in food applications are many and varied, but their inherent instability certainly tops the list; Charlotte Jacobsen and Nina Skall Nielsen review the different strategies available. No discussion of stability would be complete without an examination of analytical methods, which here is provided by Jonathan M. Curtis and includes a comparison of the two most widely used methods - AOCS Ce lb 89a and the European Pharmacopoeia 4.3:2.4.29.

The chapter on regulation provides a detailed look at food law in the European Union (EU) which, admittedly, has the most comprehensive rules concerning LC-PUFA. But the sheer size of the markets for functional foods in the United States and Japan argues for the inclusion of an additional chapter or additional material on allowed US and Japanese health claims, if nothing else. In addition, some material in the discussion about the global market for LC-PUFA is dated - something that is all but bound to happen when one takes a snapshot of a global growth market. The graphical material (57 tables and 52 figures) is all useful and well-produced; the index could be more thorough, however.

These small quibbles aside, I highly recommend the book for anyone interested in the subject; it is a very good resource to have on the shelf. This is precisely why I, as an Inform associate, asked to review the volume so we could add it to our AOCS resource library. The breadth of material presented means that no matter what aspect of the subject I am asked to write about in the future, I will find background material available in one or more of the 11 chapters.

Which raises a caveat: I am not an oil chemist, holding instead a bachelor's degree (albeit summa cum laude) in communications. Nevertheless, my seven years of service as a news and features writer for AOCS have left me with a keen eye for good resource information as well as broad knowledge of the field. That knowledge is now even broader, thanks to Long-Chain Omega-3 Specialty Oils.

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