A new alliance between Clover Corporation and Food Science Australia will use breakthrough technology to put healthy fish oils into the Australian diet.

Fish oil, a popular functional food, has long been recognised for its health benefits but its use as an ingredient in processed foods has been limited by problems with taste and stability.

Functional lipids company, Clover Corporation, and Food Science Australia have reached agreement on the licensing and further development of breakthrough technology in the manufacture of encapsulated tuna oil and other functional food ingredients.

"The breakthrough came with the invention of a novel food ingredient encapsulation technology that appears to satisfy all the demands of an improved carrier for unstable materials such as fish oil," says Dr Martin Palmer of Food Science Australia.

Functional foods — or nutraceuticals — are a rapidly growing segment of the food market worth more than US $86 billion dollars world-wide.

Product trials indicate that this technology, developed by Food Science Australia scientists Mary Ann Augustin and Luz Sanguansri, will provide Clover with a second generation of its successful Driphorm® tuna oil powder with higher oil loading and extended shelf life.

"This development means that Clover's functional lipids can now be included in a new range of dry products such as muesli bars, at levels set down in the recently published ANZFA Food Code," says Mr Hamish Drummond, Chairman of Clover Corporation.

"Research now in progress indicates that this technology can also be used to incorporate Clover's HiDHA® tuna oil into liquid and semi-liquid foods such as milk drinks, yoghurts, cheese and ice cream," he says.

"Clover's competitive advantage is significantly enhanced by this technology, which will be covered by world-wide patents", says Mr Drummond.

Both Clover Corporation and Food Science Australia believe that this technology may have commercial potential in a wider range of food and pharmaceutical applications and have entered into a Technology Development Agreement to co-fund additional research with the aim of further developing and commercialising this innovation well beyond the scope of the original project.

The two organisations have collaborated in this field since 1996, most recently under funding from CSIRO's 'Food into Asia' Program.

Food Science Australia is a joint venture of CSIRO and the Australian Food Science Australia Science Centre and is Australia's largest food research organisation.

More information:

Dr Martin Palmer, Food Science Australia 03 9731 3251

Mr Ortwin Bode, Clover Corporation Ltd. 02 9316 4876

Beverley George, Food Science Australia 02 9490 8397

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