Friday, August 17, 2018

ORIVO Certification

ORIVO provides laboratory services for testing the authenticity of marine ingredients, both oil and meal. The testing technology, initially developed by the Norwegian research organization SINTEF, is based on proven species and region of origin via quality assured sampling protocols. Based in Molde, Norway, ORIVO serves the global markets independent third party verification to meet the consumer demand for non-adulterated and sustainable marine ingredients.

Biotics Research Corporation is the first supplement brand in the United States to provide certification of authenticity to their fish oil products, verified by ORIVO through an independent third-party authenticity test. They use an anchovy source from the cold waters of the South Pacific Ocean off the South American coast.

Customers now can be certain they are getting the highest quality omega-3s available. The certification also shows the fish oil is coming from sustainable sources.

My Take:
SINFEF developed this technology in response to concerns about the quality of omega-3 fatty acids products, most of which come from Norway. In the past, most supplement companies depended on the wholesale manufacturers to provide good quality fish oil.

Reputable supplement companies, like Carlson and Metagenics, would pay the manufacturer to remove any mercury from the raw material. That is how their labels claimed that their products were “mercury free”. Brands that offered low cost fish oil, like Costco, didn’t pay for mercury removal and made no such claims.

However, in 2004, 74 supplement companies were indicted by a judge in California for mercury contamination in products that claimed to be mercury free. The common source was a Norwegian manufacturer who was charging for mercury removal but skipping the high density molecular extraction process needed to remove the mercury.



During that time, Biotics Research Corporation and Standard Process stopped manufacturing fish oil products. When I asked why the fish oil was “back ordered”, they replied that they could not find a suitable raw material source to produce their products.

Both Biotics and Standard Process have extensive laboratories and they test all raw materials prior to purchase. They had been rejecting mercury contaminated fish oil for some time.

Biotics was a research lab way before they became a supplement company. They were hired by the federal government to test for possible contaminants emanating from the Love Canal in New York many years ago. Because of their findings, they decided to develop supplements to counteract the negative health effects of toxins in our environment.

Standard Process is the reference lab for more than 50% of all the organic farms in the U.S. Organic farms must routinely submit food samples to verify they are meeting organic food standards. Standard process has been growing and testing their own crops in Racine, Wisconsin since the 1930’s.

Bottom Line:
The independent certification of fish oil products by ORIVO is long overdue. Congratulations to Biotics Research Corporation for being the first in the U.S. to receive this certification. The independent nature of ORIVO is highlighted by the fact that a South American fish oil that is in direct competition with a major industry in Norway was certified by a Norwegian organization. If you didn’t already guess, I use the Biotics fish oil personally and in my practice.

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