While Aarhus Olie is a well known name in the food ingredients industry, it was with some surprise that we stumbled across the Aarhus sales team at Vitafoods this week.
A primary motivation for Aarhus Olie's presence as an exhibitor at the European functional foods show is the company's new nutritional product, SheaNature. This all-natural, cholesterol-lowering dietary supplement is a significant step for Aarhus because it marks the company's entry into nutritional oils.
"We knew we had a very good product and so we decided to test it," Aarhus Olie Business Unit Manager, Health Care, Christian Buur told NutraIngredients.com. Sourced from the Shea nut of Africa, shea butter has been a central part of research activities at Aarhus Olie for many years but the company only began carrying out targeted tests on the butter two years ago.
Aarhus claims to have developed and patented a new process for shea butter resulting in the new product, SheaNature, a "cholesterol normaliser to bring cholesterol levels to a healthy level," said Christian Buur.
Initially Aarhus will promote its new nutritional oil product in a dietary supplement form with particular emphasis on the American market. Despite the distinctly rocky ride experienced by ground-breaking cholesterol reducing product Benecol, cholesterol 'levellers' are very much in vogue and this new shea butter product from leading oils and fats company Aarhus will no doubt be a welcome addition to an increasingly competitive market.
Industry rumours this month link Aarhus Olie as the potential new owner of nutritional oils company Loders Croklaan, recently placed on the market by mother company, Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant Unilever.