Premium Fish Oil from Pangasius: Breakthrough in Modern Technology Application

 

The Mekong Delta region annually produces 140,000 tonnes of fish fat used as inputs for animal feed and biodiesel production and cheaply exported to other countries. Meanwhile, Vietnam is spending billions of US dollars every year importing vegetable oil and this demand is on the rise.

 

Earlier, some companies successfully processed fish fat into cooking oil but they could not remove the fishy smell in the final product. As a result, they failed. In the world, fish fat is mainly used to produce fish oil capsules that supplement micro-nutrients for human bodies, not fish oil for daily use as a food.

 

Seeing this, Sao Mai Group, led by President Le Thanh Thuan, sent many delegations to many other countries to learn technologies. Luckily, a European company agreed to conduct technological research and supply fish oil refining lines to the company. “From the laboratory to commercial production is a long process of learning and changing. Therefore, it takes several years to successfully produce fish oil for the market,” he said.

 

After over two years of study, in 2010, Sao Mai Group officially signed a contract worth US$15 million with a European group to import fish oil refining technology and equipment. The fish oil factory was located on a nearly 4 ha campus in Binh Thanh commune, Lap Vo district, Dong Thap province. The first phase of the plant with a daily processing capacity of 200 tonnes cost more than VND500 billion.

 

The refinery will turn out two products, stearin and olein. Stearin will be used for food processing industries (noodle, cream, butter, chocolate, bakery, etc.) while olein will be distributed to the market in the form of cooking oil. Specifically, Sao Mai Group will also provide raw materials for pharmaceutical companies to produce fish oil capsules containing Omega 3, Omega 6 and Omega 9.

 

Ranee premium fish oil will be an extremely important link that forms a chain in the closed pangasius and shark catfish farming and processing process. By using fish fat, Ranee is a solution to raise the value of Vietnamese pangasius and Sao Mai Group is honoured to be a pioneer.

 

According to studies by the National Institute of Nutrition, fish fat or crude fish oil contains no cholesterol but contains many valuable, good-to-health nutrients such as monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), Omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids, mineral elements and Vitamin E. Especially, fish oil contains EPA and DHA - very important elements for human health. If properly used for food and pharmaceutical industries, fish fat in the Mekong Delta will certainly have a positive contribution to improve the health of Vietnamese people in particular and worldwide consumers in general.

 

Researches by the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that chronic non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes and metabolic disorder syndrome cause 60 percent of deaths in the world and this tends to increase in the future. Burdens of chronic diseases may be reduced if people pay attention to physical exercise in combination with healthy diet. Particularly, using fish oil as an ingredient with biological activity is regarded as an essential nutrient solution today.

 

Dr Truong Tuyet Mai from the National Institute of Nutrition said research proves that fish oil helps enhance memory and concentration. Fish oil is also very good for pregnant women and young children as it helps improve intelligence.

 

The fish oil production of Sao Mai Group is seen as a breakthrough and a new advance in generating new values for pangasius, a potential but only partially tapped product. This move has opened up a new way for a promising concern like Sao Mai Group. Besides, this demonstrates the strategic vision, sustainable development and prosperity of a Vietnamese company in search of the key to deadlock export market of pangasius fillets because of a series of technical barriers to trade raised by importing countries.