Just months after production first began, scientists have given Veramaris’ algal oil GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) approval. As part of the process, an expert panel analyzed the natural marine algal oil which contains EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids. GRAS is an FDA (Food and Drug Administration) designation embedded in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations.

The news will be welcomed by fish farmers across the United States. They will now be able to enrich their fish with domestically produced Veramaris’ natural algal oil and reduce their reliance on increasingly volatile supply of imported fish oils. It also provides consumers with more nutritious and healthy seafood.

The team at the Veramaris production facility in Nebraska has been ramping up production this year. The company has put in place special measures to ensure that the manufacturing process is not affected by Coronavirus.

Speaking about the GRAS milestone, Karim Kurmaly, CEO, Veramaris said that “we are all pleased that, as expected, our natural algal oil now has GRAS approval. It is another important milestone in our journey and means the U.S. aquaculture industry has a guaranteed source of algal oil in these very uncertain times. I also want to thank the men and women at our site in Blair who are ensuring that despite of the restrictions imposed by coronavirus, we are able to continue to increase production to meet growing demand from our customers. We are grateful for all their efforts.”

So far this year, the Blair site has produced almost twice the algal oil volumes as last year’s entire production from across the three Veramaris sites.