Krill Oil and Mercury Concerns

Interviewer: Can you talk a little bit about where your krill oil products come from? Where does the krill come from and why is that important?

Dr. Sigalit Zchut: Yeah. The krill oil comes from the southern ocean, from Antarctica. It's very important because you need the cold water for the production of the EPA and DHA. We are actually using krill meal that was harvested by vessels that are approved by CCAMLR, and we extract the krill oil in our manufacturing plant in Israel.

Interviewer: A lot of time when people are either eating fish or looking for a fish oil, there's a concern of mercury in there. Is there a similar concern with krill?

Dr. Sigalit Zchut: No, and we also, of course, look into those heavy metals. There is no concern because it comes from Antarctica and also because those heavy metals accumulate in the food chain. Because krill are so low on the food chain, they don't have heavy metals. Not like fish, eating another fish eating another fish, and then you get accumulation. In this case, you don't have this.

Interviewer: A krill is what? A very small...

Dr. Sigalit Zchut: Krill is a crustacean. It's very small. It's about a couple centimeters long, living in swarms in the open waters of the southern sea. Its population is monitored by CCAMLR very tightly because it's also the food for a lot of the marine life in this area.