Last week the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation pinned a scathing bull’s-eye on the Peruvian fishery industry and the quality of its resulting fish oil supplements. In a two-part documentary created by the network’s FBI Consumer Investigation program, investigators claimed industry practices to be both a danger to the environment and health—claims hotly contested as “unbalanced” by the International Fish Meal and Fish Oil Organisation (IFFO) and the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED). 

The first part of the documentary focused on the Peruvian anchovy fishery business, specifically mentioning two GOED members that have full or partial Norwegian ownership, Copeinca and Austral Group. The program alleged that the waste from the area’s fish processing factories damage marine life and pose a danger to the local people. It also pointed out that the companies had been fined multiple times for illegal fishing, manipulating fish weights and harvesting illegal or juvenile fish. Additionally, those interviewed by the program alleged the companies were releasing caustic soda and acid (used by factories to clean equipment) into the nearby water and the “smoke released from the factories” is endangering the lives of those who live and work in the area.
 
In actuality, according to GOED members involved in the region, the majority of the factories have converted to steam and all plants are using scrubbers to reduce the amount of emissions, which, one GOED member stated, was 10% of what it was two to three years ago. GOED added that its members also refuted the caustic soda and acid claims, saying the chemicals are neutralized before they are released into the ocean, using modern waste management procedures.
 
As for the fines levied against the companies, GOED said another of its members acknowledged that these fines were indeed imposed however it happened before current regulations were in place, as there have been increasingly stringent standards imposed by the Peruvian government to preserve the environment. In fact, according to IFFO, the sustainability of Peru’s fisheries and marine ecosystem was ranked best in the world in a study by the University of British Columbia in 2008.
 
What’s more, GOED pointed out that a majority of the companies have IFFO RS, ISO 9000, ISO 14000, OHSAS and/or GMP certifications and have been supplying oil for years to very demanding pharmaceutical, food and supplement customers who perform their own audits and require high quality products—a fact that made the claims in part two of the documentary all the more curious.
 
Rancid Supplement Oils?

Part two of the Norwegian exposé took aim at the quality of the fish oil rendered by the fish sourced by the Peruvian fisheries. A scientist interviewed by the program claimed to have tested more than 100 Norwegian fish oil supplements and found many that contained “more or less rancid oils.”

The program also showed photographs from Peru negatively depicting a fish oil production chain and Norwegian food safety authorities commenting on the terrible conditions. GOED, however, clarified that the photos depicted a line producing fish oil for animal feed, not for human consumption, as the program insinuated.
 
The second installment of the documentary included commentary from the omega-3 industry and was followed by a panel discussion. During the broadcast, Øyvind Andrè Haram, head of communication for FHL/Norwegian Seafood Federation, attempted to point out that the production line being shown was not for human consumption but was cut off by the moderator. Also included in the broadcast was GOED member and Norwegian supplement manufacturer Axellus, which discussed how every batch of product is controlled and must meet many quality parameters before it is approved for sale and clearly stated that they do not place rancid product on the market.
 
Importantly, GOED members in Norway tell us that the debate program that followed included  Kristina Landsverk, director of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, who stated that crude oil is refined before marketing and that capsules are safe to consume. She also talked about the Food Safety Authority inspections and surveillance programs.
 
In a statement, IFFO refuted the documentary’s categorization of the fish oil products, citing the litany of tests, purification and refining steps the oils are subjected to during the course of sourcing, shipping and processing that would confirm whether or not the oils had oxidized, or turned rancid.
 
IFFO outlined two common measures of fish oil rancidity—Peroxide Value (PV) and Anisidine Value (AV), usually combined to produce what is called a Totox Value. Refiners buy their oil on Totox Value and check every single batch to ensure nothing is rancid. They then refine the oil, which further reduces rancidity. The oil is then stabilized with vitamin E (tocopherol), which acts as an antioxidant prior to filling into gelatin capsules that keep out all oxygen, providing a safe shelf-life measured in years. “...the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued an opinion that the quality of raw materials used in the production of fish oil products for human consumption has nothing to do with the final quality,” IFFO said. “EFSA specifically says that the best measures of food safety for oils are the PV and AV tests on the refined oil, because refining removes all food safety risks.”
 
In an interview with Nutraceuticals World, Adam Ismail, GOED executive director, shared his thought on how two sides of the same story could be so radically opposed. He attributed the differences to the tunnel vision of the reporters, who he said focused on a single region of Peru at a single point in time and ignored non-industry influences, whereas GOED’s version of the story is a more holistic view of the entire fish oil industry.

“The two regions where the reporters focused have been improving dramatically over the past few years and the industry has invested millions of dollars to minimize its impact in the region. However, this progress was virtually ignored by the NRK piece,” Mr. Ismail commented. “They assume nothing has changed and that it will not going forward, when in fact things have improved substantially over the past few years and are continuing to change as the plants move toward compliance with the 2013 zero emissions law. Also, these are only two small regions of the Peruvian fishery. Elsewhere the situation is very different and the issues have not existed.”
 
Mr. Ismail also charged that the producers of the documentary did not make an honest attempt to obtain both sides of the story. "In the first show when they talk about the practices at the plants, they do not cite anybody who knows anything about what is going on there today. Instead, they spoke with former employees,” he said. “In the second show, they show photos of a production line that does not produce fish oil for human consumption yet represent it as such. It is a very telling sign that the head of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority came out after the documentary to reassure consumers that the fish oil capsules they were taking were safe and had no issues.”
 
GOED and IFFO said they both reached out the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and offered to be interviewed or provide relevant information, but neither group was contacted by the program’s organizers.