DHA will fortify Indian consumer from 2009

Chennai, Sep 16 (UNI) ABL Biotechnologies Ltd has established India's first and the world's second facility for the production of the essential fatty acid DHA, at Tiruchendur in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu with an investment of Rs 40 crore.

This investment to retail DHA in the form of capsules and fortified foods from 2009, was being made in the current year and the in facility will begin production in 2008, a company release said here today.

DHA(Docasa Hexaenoic Acid) is an omega-3 fatty acid, all the fatty acids which are essential in the human diet are either omega-3 or omega-6. The omega-3 and omega-6 family of fatty acids are essential because they cannot be synthesized in the body, but must be obtained in the diet.

The technology for this project has been developed under ABL, the second producer of DHA in the world.

The upgraded facility in India will enable ABL to produce DHA at lower price and faciliate higher productivity. ABL's work centres around a variant of the organism Schizochitrium sp., which is isolated from the eastern cost of India. This source has been approved and classified by the USFDA to be GRAS.

Almost 60 per cent of heart attacks occur without warning due to irregular heartbeats, which the fatty acid DHA can prevent.

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