Dear friends and consumers

You all have followed our extensive coverage of what it seems it has become an habit in the South Korean market, offering (very) poor (unclean) krill oils.

We have seen krill oil brands misleading consumers in several markets, in the US for example as read here, but nothing as what we have seen in South Korea.

In 2020, solvent-extracted krill oils were recalled in South Korea for using banned solvents in their extraction process, some using chemicals only authorized for animal feeds (read here). We reported on the brands involved, listing their names here.

June 2021 we again reported what it seems a South Korean tendency to biased consumers. This time blending krill oil with non-krill material, putting at risk consumers’ health, ergo, households loosing confidence on the category, with it, the trust that krill oil posses outstanding nutritional properties, in a clean presentation. Read here.

Nobody is inmune in this fiasco. This “insurgency” has negatively impacted krill oil sales in this market, as well as its implications around the globe.

Well…. South Korean brands must buy their krill oil ingredient from a krill oil producer. And here things become tricky. No serious krill oil producer wants to be dragged on this black hole, and see how their sales dump.

We have tried to collect information from the few krill oil producers’, and where they stand on this matter, this way give you, our loyal readers, first hand on whom to trust on.

The leading krill oil supplier, Akerbiomarine provided useful information to sustain that their certified krill oil is safe to use on any brand, more so in South Korea. If any brand owner decides to cheat, well, that is difficult for any krill oil producer to exert direct control. 

The Korean FDA tested the top 20 krill oil brands sold on Naver (the Korean version of Amazon) and found products that are not compliant with Korean regulations, having all brands that are supplied by Akerbiomarine meeting such requirements, read here KFDA announcement.

One of the recalled krill oils comes from JW Pharma. The brand marketing material shows FOS certification, which to our knowledge there is only RIMFROST whom carries such certification, shown here. 

The other products were supplied by Chinese manufacturers. In these cases, krill oil was mixed with other oils. Linoleic acid for example, should range 0-3% in krill oil, the Chinese krill oil it was over 27%. See list below:

Brand: Noksibchocare, product WebSite here.

Brand: Smart Enhancer Inc., product WebSite here.

Brand: Soonsoofood, product WebSite here. 

Thanks

July 12, 2021