During her tour of Northern Norway, Prime Minister Erna Solberg visited the new Zooca factory, the world’s first for refining the zooplankton Calanus finmarchicus. She was impressed by the level of innovation in the company and expressed that this investment would lead to new jobs and increased export income for Norway.
The state-of-the-art factory is located at Sortland, Vesterålen, and is now ready to refine Calanus finmarchicus, one of the world’s largest marine resources. Zooca will produce its unique marine oil, whose beneficial health effects are clinically proven, and protein products for growth and health in animals (soon to be made available for humans as well).
Solberg underlined that Norway has always been a nation proud of its fisheries and seafood, and that Zooca now is writing a new chapter in this history. She stated that sustainable harvesting of Norway’s marine resources is important, leading to new jobs and value creation for the country. With the proven health benefits for both humans and animals of products from C. finmarchicus in addition, it is regarded as a win-win situation. Solberg congratulated the founders and the team fortheir effort and the company’s new factory.
Speakers at Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s visit to Zooca: Zooca CEO Siv-Katrin Ramskjell (left), Mayor of Sortland Karl-Erling Nordlund (middle), and Zooca co-founder Kurt Tande (right).
- I want to thank the Government for opening for sustainable and commercial harvesting of Calanus finmarchicus, since we are dependent on sufficient access to raw material in order to build this factory. We promise to manage this opportunity in a sustainable way, and to create new jobs and increased revenue for Norway, Zooca CEO Siv-Katrin Ramskjell said in her speech.
- When we started the company in 2002, it was not given that Calanus finmarchicus would be such an important marine resource with exceptional health benefits, continued Zooca co-founder Kurt Tande. In collaboration with research institutes at the Arctic University of Tromsø, we have performed groundbreaking research. He lists the following clinically proven results from studies on the unique marine oil from Zooca:
Daily consumption of the oil, in combination with physical activity, increases the heart’s pumping ability in elderly women.
• The oil increases insulin sensitivity and counteracts development of type 2 diabetes.
• Daily consumption of 2g oil, in combination with physical activity, improves the balance between muscle and fat in adult men and women.
Kurt Tande also mentioned that the oil currently is used in world’s largest study on the effects of the oil in children diagnosed with ADHD. – All the research and development has resulted in what you see today – a state-of-the-art factory, streamlined and fully automated for effective production of marine oils and proteins, Kurt Tande said in his closing remarks.
- It is both exciting and a recognition of Sortland, that Zooca has chosen to realize their new factory here. The competence in the company, their experience and emphasis on development is positive for the region and will lead to more activity based on raw material from the ocean. In combination with new technology, we see there is basis for new marine products of high quality for the global marked, said Mayor of Sortland Karl-Erling Nordlund in the final speech of the evening.
Zooca starts full production at the factory on August 30th this year and marks it with a formal opening proceeded by the Minister of fisheries Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen.
