The harvesting of mussels commences in the early morning and continues until mid afternoon. The harvested mussels are packed in 1 tonne sacks for transport to the processing plant where they are stored at 4° C. Processing commences immediately as the mussels arrive in the plant and it is completed within 24 hours, ensuring that the mussels are in peak condition.
The mussel flesh is stabilized by a patented process which protects the non polar lipids (Lyprinolâ) prior to freezing in special stainless steel trays designed specifically for the freeze drying process.
Freeze drying which is also known as lyophilising, is a process where the moisture is removed from the product under vacuum without the application of heat.
The now dried mussel flesh is removed from the freeze dryer as a thin biscuit with a moisture content of less than 2%. It is immediately transferred to a humidity controlled room where the biscuit is first broken down to smaller parts and then ground to a fine powder in a specifically designed mill.
After grinding, the powder is packed into heat sealed aluminium foil bags and nitrogen gas is inserted into the bag by a special process. This removes any residual oxygen, thus ensuring an ideal environment during transport of the powder to the final processing plant in Germany and New Zealand where the lipids are extracted.
Note: Limited information is available in this section due to the confidential nature of the extraction process.
EXTRACTION OF LYPRINOLâ
Lyprinolâ is derived from stabilized green lipped mussel powder via use of the patented supercritical fluid extraction process. All the stabilized mussel powder is forwarded to the German based company, Flavex Naturextrakte or Nutri-Zeal in Nelson, New Zealand, who are both internationally renowned for their expertise in the field of supercritical fluid extraction.