Fish Oil

9 De Smet plants are processing fishoil.


Origin

In this category, the main sources are the marine mammals and in the past, between them, especially the whales of which oil is obtained by wet process melting of the thick lard layer.

After whale oil, come fish oils extracted from the processing of small entire fishes (herring, sardines, ...); dry fish scraps can be solvent extracted and meals can be used in mixture with others for animal feed and also as fertilisers.

Oil can also be extracted from the livers of some animals for their high content in vitamins A & D (cod liver oil).
Fish oils are usually liquid.
On top of oleins and stearins, they also contain glycerides with physetoleic acid (C15H29 COOH).

Fish oils are brownish and with a smell due to the decomposition of fish meat (trimethyl-amine).


Process

Neutralising

This unit operation performs following action:
- Removal of FFA (Free Fatty Acids)
- Removal of Metal Ions
- Removal of Phosphatides
- Removal of Proteins

Bleaching

It is necessary to bleach the oil so as to remove the various elements not removed by neutralization:
- Removal of colour pigments
- Removal of metal ions
- Removal of oxidised components

Detoxification

This new FIDETOX technology is a response to the market demand to have a POP-free food and is a new industrial process for cleaning specifically the fish oil in order to remove the High Molecular Weight POP like PAH - Pesticides - PCB - Dioxines.
This technology enables you to match the strict regulations of the European Commission.
FIDETOX keeps the volume of contaminated adsorbents as low as possible and avoids contact with the environment.

Fractionation

These unit operation is perfectly suitable for:

- A drastic improvement of cold test
- The production of non-hydrogenated high melting fish fat
- The application concerning enriched EPA/DHA fish oil.

Deodorising

It is necessary to deodorize the fish oil in order to achieve a high quality end product:

- Removal of odours and off flavours
- Removal of FFA (Free Fatty Acids)
- Removal of Low Molecular Weight POP
- Improvement of shelf life
- Preservation of nutritional value