Manufacturers decry fish-oil lawsuit

Fish-oil supplement manufacturers are responding to a lawsuit filed by an Oregon environmental group last week alleging that their products contain unsafe levels of PCBs.

Omega Protein released a statement saying it is “disappointed” that Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation filed the lawsuit against 10 dietary supplement brands and retailers. The company said its products are in full compliance with all federal laws enacted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, standards of the European Commissions and California’s Proposition 65 labeling requirements.

Despite neither company being listed in the suit, Nordic Naturals and Coromega also released statements stating that they are in full compliance with all regulations.

“Nordic Naturals believes that consumers should have access to accurate information about environmental contaminants and the complete transparency around freshness and purity is essential,” said Joar Opheim, the company’s CEO.

“Our anchovy and sardine fish oil is purified through molecular distillation, which removes environmental contaminants such as PCBs to levels well below the stringent limit for PCBs defined by California’s Proposition 65,” said Frank Morely, Coromega’s CEO and president. “In addition, Coromega’s fish oil is third-party tested to ensure it meets or exceeds all safety guidelines set forth by regulatory agencies. We take the standards of Coromea products extremely seriously and assure our consumers that our rigorous quality control measures ensure their utmost purity.”

The Council for Responsible Nutrition also came to the defense of fish-oil producers, saying it believes the suit was filed in California to take advantage of the Prop. 65 law.

“Fish-oil supplements are among the safest, most beneficial products on the market. Today’s announcement of a lawsuit against companies manufacturing or selling popular products is just that — a lawsuit looking for media attention, not a public safety concern for consumers,” said Andrew Shao, senior VP of regulatory affairs for the trade association.

The products named in the suit include GNC Liquid Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, Nature Made Cod Liver Oil, Nature Made Odorless Fish Oil, Now Foods Double Strength Cod Liver Oil, Now Foods Salmon Oil, Now Foods Shark Liver Oil, Solgar 100 percent pure Norwegian Shark Liver Oil Complex, Solgar Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, Twinlab Emulsified Norwegian Cod Liver Oil and Twinlab Norwegian Cod Liver Oil.

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