My Nutrient® Spirulina growers in Hawaii add nutrients from one of the deepest, cleanest oceans on the planet. Clean, pure deep ocean water is pumped from 2,000 feet below the surface of the ocean and added to My Nutrient® Spirulina. This deep ocean water contains all 94 trace minerals and elements. Scientists estimate that this deep ocean water hasn't been to the surface for over 2,000 years - this is indeed special water. My Nutrient® Spiriluna has been developed into a uniquely nutritious and potent species of Spirulina that has been harvested in a rich liquid soil of 94 minerals and trace elements giving it several times the carotenoid levels of other wild strains of blue-green algae.
Further, our cultivated Spirulina ponds (lined with food-quality liners) are sampled every day and carefully examined for any sign of contamination, ensuring that the consumer receives a pure product. Paddlewheels gently stir the cultures, ensuring optimum light for each cell and helping the pond to release oxygen. The culture thrives in these ideal conditions, growing several times faster than it would in the wild.
Cultured Spirulina grows extremely fast: In fact, Spirulina farms are the most productive systems in the world. A typical output for year-round production, such as that realized in Hawaii, is over 400,000 kilograms a year on just 40 hectares of land. When you consider that Spirulina is typically 60% protein, that means over 240,000 kilograms of pure protein is produced each year, far surpassing the per-hectare yields of high-protein crops such as soybeans and triticale wheat. And, unlike other forms of farming, there is no fertilizer or manure runoff to pollute ground water or streams. It's refreshing to know that the world's most productive agricultural systems are non-polluting and use no herbicides or pesticides!
Spirulina is filamentous (meaning that it grows in strands), a shape that allows for harvesting by stainless steel screens. This method uses far less energy than centrifugation (which is used for chlorella, another ocean grown nutrient) and is gentle on the cells. While the Spirulina is being sieved out on screens, it is given several fresh water washes, ensuring a clean product with a fresh taste. Ponds are harvested to 70% of their depth, with what remains being the seed for the next generation. It's like mowing the lawn - the part left behind grows again.
After washing, the harvested paste is fed into a dryer. A great deal of research has gone into methods of protecting the nutrient quality during the drying process. Because freeze-drying minimizes exposure to heat, it was an early choice in the effort to produce a high-quality product. The other advantage of freeze-drying is that the particles produced disperse rapidly in water, thus making a convenient drink ingredient. The downside of freeze-drying is that the wet product is exposed to oxygen for many hours until it freezes. Usually the frozen blocks then sit on dryer pans in freezer trucks while they travel to freeze drying companies. Many people don't realize that the freeze-drying process also involves the use of heat during the later stages, after much of the moisture content has been drawn off. Thus, freeze-drying is not the drying method of choice for My Nutrient® Spirulina because this process can lead to losses of vital nutrients - carotenoids, antioxidants and enzymes.
Spray dryers have traditionally been used for Spirulina. One benefit of spray drying is the extremely short duration of time that the product is exposed to oxygen. Within minutes of harvest, the product is dried. It travels through the dryer for a few seconds and is then quickly packaged. The primary disadvantage of spray drying is the use of heat. Although it is of short duration, the temperature is elevated and enzyme damage is a concern. Spirulina producers have taken this into consideration and run their dryers at low temperatures. The product is always kept well below boiling, minimizing damage.
Ocean-ChillTM Drying. The most significant advancement in drying has been the development of Ocean-Chill Drying (U.S. Patent #5,276,977). Scientists in Hawaii have developed a close-cycle modified spray drying system which uses very cold sea water from 600 meters below the surface of the ocean to remove moisture and chill the air in the dryer. This chilling and dehumidifying allows for the elimination of oxygen from the dryer, effecting a significant increase in the retention of carotenoid and enzyme activity. With Ocean-Chill Drying, Hawaiian Spirulina dries very quickly - between three and seven seconds - and with less than 1% oxygen present. This produces a Spirulina that has a very pleasant, mild taste compared to other brands. But most importantly, data from independent labs show that Hawaiian Spirulina dried by this method contains significantly higher levels of carotenoids, enzymes and other fragile nutrients. In fact, due to many different to many different processes and cultivation techniques, Hawaiian Spirulina (My Nutrients® Spirulina) has much higher levels of key nutrients than any other Spirulina in the world.
Tablet preparation is another area requiring careful attention to quality. Tablets are essentially a powder mixture squeezed into a mold. In general, to manufacture tablets at high speed, the tabletter must either add a large amount of binder or excipient to the powder or granulate the powder prior to tabletting, exposing the product to oxidation. Granulation is a process of wetting the product and then heating it for hours in trays.
An alternative, more expensive method was developed and incorporated into an advanced tabletting facility specifically for Spirulina, enabling us to make tablets with a cold compression technique, thereby reducing the chance of nutritional loss.
Bottling to Protect Nutrient Values. Oxygen is a very small molecule - small enough to go right through plastic and destroy the antioxidants present in Spirulina. For example, the natural beta-carotene in Spirulina, unlike synthetic, is not stabilized with preservatives, and it must be protected from oxygen. Spirulina should be stored in oxygen-resistant packaging. Once the package has been opened, it should be kept in the refrigerator if possible. The best packaging for Spirulina should have a firmly placed child resistant cap to prevent oxygen seepage and an oxygen absorber in a PET plastic or glass bottle.
It makes you wonder why other "whole food" and "natural" supplements wouldn't take the same precautions to protect the nutritive integrity of their products!
Extensive Quality Analysis. Every batch of My Nutrient ® Spirulina undergoes a battery of microbiology tests. Our manufacturing process center operates a food microbiology laboratory at it's production facility to assure it meets the strictest good manufacturing practices (GMP.)
Refrigerate After Opening. Once opened, the oxygen absorber should be removed and product refrigerated to preserve nutrient values.
Further, our cultivated Spirulina ponds (lined with food-quality liners) are sampled every day and carefully examined for any sign of contamination, ensuring that the consumer receives a pure product. Paddlewheels gently stir the cultures, ensuring optimum light for each cell and helping the pond to release oxygen. The culture thrives in these ideal conditions, growing several times faster than it would in the wild.
Cultured Spirulina grows extremely fast: In fact, Spirulina farms are the most productive systems in the world. A typical output for year-round production, such as that realized in Hawaii, is over 400,000 kilograms a year on just 40 hectares of land. When you consider that Spirulina is typically 60% protein, that means over 240,000 kilograms of pure protein is produced each year, far surpassing the per-hectare yields of high-protein crops such as soybeans and triticale wheat. And, unlike other forms of farming, there is no fertilizer or manure runoff to pollute ground water or streams. It's refreshing to know that the world's most productive agricultural systems are non-polluting and use no herbicides or pesticides!
Spirulina is filamentous (meaning that it grows in strands), a shape that allows for harvesting by stainless steel screens. This method uses far less energy than centrifugation (which is used for chlorella, another ocean grown nutrient) and is gentle on the cells. While the Spirulina is being sieved out on screens, it is given several fresh water washes, ensuring a clean product with a fresh taste. Ponds are harvested to 70% of their depth, with what remains being the seed for the next generation. It's like mowing the lawn - the part left behind grows again.
After washing, the harvested paste is fed into a dryer. A great deal of research has gone into methods of protecting the nutrient quality during the drying process. Because freeze-drying minimizes exposure to heat, it was an early choice in the effort to produce a high-quality product. The other advantage of freeze-drying is that the particles produced disperse rapidly in water, thus making a convenient drink ingredient. The downside of freeze-drying is that the wet product is exposed to oxygen for many hours until it freezes. Usually the frozen blocks then sit on dryer pans in freezer trucks while they travel to freeze drying companies. Many people don't realize that the freeze-drying process also involves the use of heat during the later stages, after much of the moisture content has been drawn off. Thus, freeze-drying is not the drying method of choice for My Nutrient® Spirulina because this process can lead to losses of vital nutrients - carotenoids, antioxidants and enzymes.
Spray dryers have traditionally been used for Spirulina. One benefit of spray drying is the extremely short duration of time that the product is exposed to oxygen. Within minutes of harvest, the product is dried. It travels through the dryer for a few seconds and is then quickly packaged. The primary disadvantage of spray drying is the use of heat. Although it is of short duration, the temperature is elevated and enzyme damage is a concern. Spirulina producers have taken this into consideration and run their dryers at low temperatures. The product is always kept well below boiling, minimizing damage.
Ocean-ChillTM Drying. The most significant advancement in drying has been the development of Ocean-Chill Drying (U.S. Patent #5,276,977). Scientists in Hawaii have developed a close-cycle modified spray drying system which uses very cold sea water from 600 meters below the surface of the ocean to remove moisture and chill the air in the dryer. This chilling and dehumidifying allows for the elimination of oxygen from the dryer, effecting a significant increase in the retention of carotenoid and enzyme activity. With Ocean-Chill Drying, Hawaiian Spirulina dries very quickly - between three and seven seconds - and with less than 1% oxygen present. This produces a Spirulina that has a very pleasant, mild taste compared to other brands. But most importantly, data from independent labs show that Hawaiian Spirulina dried by this method contains significantly higher levels of carotenoids, enzymes and other fragile nutrients. In fact, due to many different to many different processes and cultivation techniques, Hawaiian Spirulina (My Nutrients® Spirulina) has much higher levels of key nutrients than any other Spirulina in the world.
Tablet preparation is another area requiring careful attention to quality. Tablets are essentially a powder mixture squeezed into a mold. In general, to manufacture tablets at high speed, the tabletter must either add a large amount of binder or excipient to the powder or granulate the powder prior to tabletting, exposing the product to oxidation. Granulation is a process of wetting the product and then heating it for hours in trays.
An alternative, more expensive method was developed and incorporated into an advanced tabletting facility specifically for Spirulina, enabling us to make tablets with a cold compression technique, thereby reducing the chance of nutritional loss.
Bottling to Protect Nutrient Values. Oxygen is a very small molecule - small enough to go right through plastic and destroy the antioxidants present in Spirulina. For example, the natural beta-carotene in Spirulina, unlike synthetic, is not stabilized with preservatives, and it must be protected from oxygen. Spirulina should be stored in oxygen-resistant packaging. Once the package has been opened, it should be kept in the refrigerator if possible. The best packaging for Spirulina should have a firmly placed child resistant cap to prevent oxygen seepage and an oxygen absorber in a PET plastic or glass bottle.
It makes you wonder why other "whole food" and "natural" supplements wouldn't take the same precautions to protect the nutritive integrity of their products!
Extensive Quality Analysis. Every batch of My Nutrient ® Spirulina undergoes a battery of microbiology tests. Our manufacturing process center operates a food microbiology laboratory at it's production facility to assure it meets the strictest good manufacturing practices (GMP.)
Refrigerate After Opening. Once opened, the oxygen absorber should be removed and product refrigerated to preserve nutrient values.
