US FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition published the results of an analysis of 22 commercial krill oil supplements available in the US market. It reported that ten products (45%) contained significant amounts of fatty acid-ethyl esters (FAEE.)

Natural levels of FAEE in krill oil are low (<3% by weight) and these ten products contained 41-75% of the oil weight as them without declaring them on the label. Additionally, the report states that the FAEE contributed 40-167% of the labeled content of EPA and DHA, and that the declared phospholipid levels (21±7% of serving weight) were lower than typically found in krill oil (39±6% of serving weight). These results suggest that a significant portion of krill oil supplements in the US are actually blends of krill oil with undeclared FAEE rich in EPA and DHA

After US FDA’s report, category leader posted a letter explaining its participation in FDA’s work, clarifying who’s who. This is a good opportunity to clean the market from sub-standard quality krill oils. It is good to have the category leader “leading” this quest.