Frequently Asked Questions

Omega3Beef and Omega-3s

How do you make Omega3Beef?

Omega3Beef is derived from traditional cattle that have been fed a feed supplement along with the regular grains in the feedlot or grass on the range. We provide a special type of natural algae, which normally begins the food chain in the ocean, where it is eaten by tiny fish, which are eaten by larger fish. The omega-3s in the algae are stored in the fish, making it healthy to eat. Omega3Beef provides the same algae for feeding the cattle. The beef from the cattle is high in omega-3s DHA and EPA.

Why is Omega3Beef healthier than other beef?

Omega3Beef is healthier because it is high in DHA and EPA, like fish. Although Omega3Beef still has some saturated fats like all beef, the high DHA and EPA produce blood chemistry which counteracts the unhealthy aspects of the saturated fat.

I see other products labeled high in omega-3s … are they all healthy?

There are a lot of products that say they are high in omega-3s. Most of them are high in the relatively less valuable omega 3 ALA. Meat or eggs that are high in ALA have been produced by feeding the animals flax seed or flax oil. This is not bad, but it’s not the most beneficial type of omega 3’s.

Why is the omega 3 ALA not as beneficial to humans as omega 3 DHA and EPA?

The omega 3 ALA is not used directly in the human body. About 6% of the ALA you eat from flax or walnuts or soybeans or canola oil (or from animals that have eaten flax seed) is converted into the omega-3s DHA and EPA, which are very healthy. However, it is hard to eat enough ALA to get the amounts of DHA and EPA that produce significant health benefits. Omega3Beef has about 180mg each of DHA and EPA per serving. To get that much from ALA, you would need to eat 2,300 mg of ALA. The common amount of ALA in servings of other products is about 200mg, so it is not very useful.

What products other than fish contain EPA and or DHA?

Eggs from chickens that have been fed the same marine plant which we use — have high DHA (100mg). One milk producer injects DHA from oil (derived from the same plant we use) into the milk, and a glass of the product contains 32mg of DHA. Some baby foods have EPA and or DHA from algae oil. These products are all labeled as healthy for the eyes, brain, and heart. All these are good. Some other products, such as baby food and peanut butter, have high EPA and DHA from fish oil. Because the fish oil is processed (purified), the remaining EPA and DHA likely does not have the same beneficial health qualities as the fish itself.

I read that fish containing high omega-3s DHA and EPA are definitely healthy, but taking fish oil pills may not be healthful … what’s going on?

A recent Harvard study reported that consuming a daily average of 400mg of EPA and DHA from fish was very healthy; in fact, it increased life expectancy by 2.2 years. However, studies of people taking fish oil capsules, show mixed results …. or no beneficial effect. The fish oil is refined from fish products containing chemicals from ocean pollution. In the refining process to take out contaminants like mercury, other useful compounds (fatty acids, or fats) which accompany the EPA and DHA are also lost. Without these other healthy fatty acids, the DHA and EPA are not successfully integrated into the human metabolism. Since all the fatty acids from the ocean plant get into the fish food chain naturally, our supplement using the same marine plant provides all these necessary fatty acids to the cattle. The resulting Omega3Beef has the same additional healthy fatty acids that is in fish.

If there can be mercury in ocean fish, can there be mercury in Omega3Beef?

No, the algae for Omega3Beef is grown in very pure water on land in large tanks. Algae in the ocean can collect mercury from the pollution in the ocean from runoff. When fish eat ocean algae containing mercury, they retain it. Omega3Beef gets pure algae from pure water in tanks on land, and hence it can have no mercury.

Is the algae supplement fed to your cattle natural?

Yes, our algae is a naturally occurring algae found in the ocean, and it is fed all natural products in land-based water tanks.  It is not a GMO.

Will I be able to buy grass-fed Omega3Beef?

Yes, feeding our algae supplement to cattle in their natural pasture works very well.

Can you guarantee that Omega3Beef is healthier?

We can guarantee that Omega3Beef contains high amounts of omega-3s DHA and EPA. A double quarter pound burger, or an 8 oz. serving of Omega3Beef steak, as tested at Oklahoma State University, have amounts of omega 3s like a meal of halibut or red snapper.

Cost of Omega3Beef

Is Omega3Beef more costly than regular beef?

Yes, everything else being the same, Omega3Beef is about $.35 per pound more costly to produce, due to the cost of the ultra-pure algae feed supplement.

Will I be able to buy Omega3Beef from regularly-fed cattle?

Our algae will be used in all segments of the cattle feeding industry. So yes, you will be able to buy lower cost beef from cattle that have been fed antibiotics and have had hormone implants to stimulate growth.  Or you can buy “Natural” Omega3Beef which is free of hormones and antibiotics, and therefore is natural beef. Or you can buy grassfed or organic Omega3Beef.

Omega3Beef availability in the United States

Are government approvals needed in the US before you can deliver the Omega3Beef?

No, the feeding of our algae to cattle has already been approved in all of Europe. So, in the near term we will supply our algae to cattle in Ireland and import the Irish beef to the US.

What approval is needed in the US?

In the US putting the omega-3 oil from the same algae is approved for human foods. However, approval has not yet been sought by US companies to feed this algae species to animals. Our company will conduct a large-scale cattle demonstration at a major US university. The results of the demonstration will be published in the Journal of Animal Science. After a review of this publication, and other public data, an independent panel of scientists can declare that our method is “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS).  Then we will begin commercial algae feeding in the US.

Why hasn’t algae-fed beef been approved for sale in the United States before now?

Until now, no one believed omega-3s could be fed to cattle to produce high amounts of omega-3s DHA and EPA in the beef. When fed by themselves as fishmeal, scientists knew that the omega-3s were “digested” in the first stomach of the cattle and were made into saturated fats with no benefit to the beef. The type of alage we use has a strong outer skin (cell wall) which acts as a barrier protecting the omega-3s inside. When the whole algae reach the small intestine, the cell wall is dissolved, releasing the omega-3s to be absorbed into the cattle’s blood stream, and to be deposited in the muscles. Omega3Beef’s founder invented the idea of selecting a particular algae species having both high levels of omega-3s and a strong cell wall.