US player finds European chia gear

The Florida-based supplier won EU approval under novel food ‘substantial equivalence’ rules in September – meaning its offering was near-identical to an already approved chia oil .

Its ‘Chia Gold’ contains 550 mg of ALA per gram of oil and is extracted using without solvents using ‘supercritical CO₂​ extraction’ and ‘O2B Peroxidation Blocker stabilisation technology’.

Approved categories include fats and oils at less than 10% of volume and food supplements up to 2 g/day.

“After the reception that Chia Gold has had in the US, we’re excited to be able to offer this ingredient in the European market,”​ said Sylvia de Jong, Valensa VP of sales & marketing.

ALA is approved under the EU nutrition and health claims regulation​​ (NHCR) for the maintenance of normal cholesterol levels and normal growth and development of children (with linoleic acid (LA)).

Nutrition Business Journal​ has estimated chia will be a €450m category in Europe by 2020.