Channahon, Ill., March 11, 2004 – Lipid Nutrition, a global leader in lipid-based health ingredients, announces that, based on the advice of independent experts, it has determined that Clarinol™ CLA is generally recognized as safe (“GRAS”) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”).
 
Lipid Nutrition convened an independent panel of experts in the field to evaluate the safety and GRAS status of Clarinol™ CLA. Based on its independent and collective critical evaluation of the scientific data and information available at this time, the panel unanimously concluded that Clarinol™ CLA is GRAS for use in yogurt products, milk-based meal replacements, nutritional bars (i.e. high protein, breakfast meal replacement, granola, and power bars) low-calorie and reduced-calorie dressings for salad, and frozen or shelf-stable plate meals with meat, fish or poultry. A voluntary notification of this GRAS determination has been submitted to the FDA in accordance with FDA’s procedures.

“This notice is a positive step in the direction of ensuring that the safety of Clarinol™ CLA and Clarinol™ Powder for use in certain foods is well established,” said David R. Lewis, Business Unit Manager, Lipid Nutrition - North America.  “In addition, there are strong data supporting that CLA can help overweight people reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass. We expect the U.S. market to adopt the use of CLA because of the overwhelming concern for weight management by the American consumer.”

Clarinol™ CLA has the highest concentration of the active isomers c9, t11 and t10, c12, which have been scientifically proven to be responsible for reducing body fat and increasing lean muscle mass. Clarinol CLA, in the triglyceride form, is easy to incorporate in food applications. An additional benefit of Clarinol™ CLA for U.S. food companies is that it does not behave biologically like a trans fat and is not considered to be a trans fat for purposes of food labelling.

Lipid Nutrition, a division of Loders Croklaan is a global leader in the supply of scientifically sound lipid ingredients from natural origin, which improve and maintain health and well-being. The company offers a variety of branded products, including Marinol™ concentrated fish oils for heart health, Safflorin™ isomerized safflower oil for immune health, Membranol™ phosphatidyl choline enriched lecithin for liver health and brain development and Betapol™ human milk fat replacement for infant nutrition.

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Contact:  Jet Dedyal/John Mooney                 Patrick Luchsinger
               212-885-0364/212-885-0622          815-730-5208
               jdedyal@hillandknowlton.com         patrick.luchsinger@croklaan.com
               North America                                North America