Farming of the Green Lipped Mussel, the source of Lyprinol
In The Sea
The mussels are grown at the north tip of New Zealand's south island in the Marlborough Sounds. Here, all mussel farming and processing is strictly controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF). This ensures that the mussels conform to the highest standards.
The mussels are suspended from long lines attached to buoys. They take about one year to grow to the desired length of 80mm. Then they are harvested from early morning till mid afternoon and sorted aboard a harvesting barge. This is the first stage of quality control.
The mussels must then be rushed to port to make sure the crucial lipids are protected. A fully laden harvesting barge can carry up to 80 tonnes of fresh mussels in one tonne sacks.
At The Plant
Firstly, the mussels are stabilised and freeze dried according to a patented process. To prevent the important lipids within the mussel from oxidising, this happens within 24 hours of their arrival.
Freeze drying, also known as lyophilising, removes moisture from the mussel under vacuum without the use of heat. Now, the dried mussel flesh takes the shape of a thin biscuit with a moisture content of less than 2%.
In a humidity-controlled room, the biscuit is broken down then ground to a fine powder. This is then packed into heat sealed aluminium bags.
To ensure quality, the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries regulates the plant on behalf of the EU authorities.
The resulting powder is then shipped to a factory for the extraction of Lyprinol.
How Lyprinol is extracted from the Green Lipped Mussel
Lyprinol is derived from the Green Lipped Mussel powder by super critical fluid extraction (SFE). All stabilised mussel powder is shipped to Germany to Flavex Naturextrakte, who are internationally recognised as leaders in this process.
Visit the Flavex website
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