Regional Food /
Kōrure, a Christchurch-based company producing all-natural New Zealand green-lipped mussel health supplements, topical creams and lotions, is rapidly finding its niche.
Fish oil on steroids – the power of mussels
From a young age, Korean-born Ron Park knew he wanted to run his own business. He just wasn’t sure what that was going to be. Having moved to New Zealand as a child with his family in search of a better education, it was only when he started researching the health supplements sector while still a university student that it dawned on him that New Zealand’s green-lipped mussels could hold the answer.
As a child, Ron’s mother was a big fan of health supplements. For as long as he can remember, Ron has taken mussel powder. ‘My mother was a pioneer of new things. She has always taken health supplements and still does to this day.’
When Ron’s friends and family in Korea asked him to source New Zealand-made supplements to send back home, he did a lot of research into different fish oils. Initially, Ron thought he could make a business out of buying and selling products. But the more he learnt about the global fish oil industry, the more disheartened he became.
Ron was shocked to find many Chinese businesses were sending cheap, poor-quality ingredients to New Zealand so they could be packaged here and branded as ‘New Zealand made’. ‘New Zealand has this wonderful, clean, green image. I had believed in these products too.’
Frustrated, it got him thinking. ‘It was a bit of a lightbulb moment. What if I could produce my own legitimate New Zealand-certified supplements instead? I wanted something that was only available here in New Zealand, that was sustainable and couldn’t be faked.’
His search led him to New Zealand green-lipped mussels. With their vibrant green shell, green-lipped mussels ( Perna canaliculus) are endemic to New Zealand’s cold, pristine waters. They are a bivalve mollusc, one of the largest of the Mytilidae family.
Green-lipped mussels have been cultivated in New Zealand since the 1970s when researchers hunting for potential cancer-saving qualities found the mollusc possessed significant anti-inflammatory and joint mobility properties.
Green-lipped mussel oil is essentially ‘fish oil on steroids’, says Ron. It contains more than 30 different fatty acids essential for your body including omega-3 EPA, DHA, and ETA, compared with generic fish oil that sometimes only contains two. In addition to joint mobility support and fighting inflammation, international studies suggest it also benefits the brain, heart and respiratory health. ‘It’s so rich in omega-3 it’s 100 times more effective than fish oil. Major clinical studies have shown that it reduces pain and inflammation for arthritis patients.’
Over the past 50 years, mussel cultivation has grown exponentially. The New Zealand industry operates under some of the strictest quality standards in the world. Compared with the fishing industry, where 90 per cent of global fish
populations are affected by over-fishing, mussel farming is one of the world’s most sustainably farmed and eco-friendly seafood products because the environmental impacts of farming plankton-filtering species are minimal. ‘I knew people could trust green-lipped mussels because they are only found here in New Zealand, just like Manuka honey,’ he says.
While studying towards an accountancy degree at Canterbury University, Ron scoured the country for a source of green-lipped mussels. Then he’d cold-email growers. It wasn’t easy. ‘It was actually super tough, I didn’t even have a company email. I kind of expected to be rejected. I sent lots of emails and never got a reply. Some didn’t take me seriously, but I was passionate about it, so I just persevered.’
Eventually, his hard work paid off, finding a suitable mussel grower in the Marlborough Sounds, who also has mussel farms in Banks Peninsula. Green-lipped mussels grow on suspended rope systems known as long-line farming, which originally adapted from the Japanese long-line method. Baby mussels (commonly known as spat) are gathered in the Marlborough Sounds where they naturally wash onto the beaches on seaweed. The spat is then seeded out on spat ropes. After three to six months, the nursery lines are lifted and
Ron remains passionate about sustainability.
His goal is to see the company become the most sustainable health supplement company in the world.
stripped from the ropes and reseeded on the final production line at a rate of 150–200 mussels per metre. Mussel farmers do not need to feed their mussels as New Zealand’s coastal waters are rich in phytoplankton. They take between one to two years to grow to harvestable shell size.
But sourcing green-lipped mussels was only the first step to creating health supplements using mussel oil. ‘There are a lot of processes and steps involved before you get mussel oil. On average it takes three mussels to produce enough oil to fill one 60 mg capsule,’ says Ron.
From the pristine waters of the Marlborough Sounds, the mussels are processed in Marlborough before being transported to Christchurch where they are removed from their shells, macerated and freeze-dried before going through trademarked ‘Supercritical CO2 Extraction’ method. The raw ingredients are then sent to Auckland to get processed and packaged, then returned to Ron for distribution.
While many fish oils are ground through machines without being scaled, and everything juiced out so the fish oil can be extracted, often chemically, using industrial stripped agents like hexane or ethanol, Supercritical CO2 Extraction results in incredibly clean and pure supplements, explains
Ron. ‘It wasn’t about the money. It was about doing the right thing. I wanted to make a quality product that people could trust, that was sustainable long-term.’
Splitting time between his university studies and trying to start a new business, it took Ron more than a year to launch Kōrure. After he graduated, Ron divided his time between working as an accountant and the business.
Today, Kōrure offers a range of marine phospholipid oil and powder supplements, as well topical natural relief cream and natural recovery lotion which feature green-lipped mussels along with other 100 per cent natural ingredients. Their products are sold nationwide in New Zealand as well as exports to China and Korea. Ron is also working on establishing new markets in Australia and the United States.
Ron remains passionate about sustainability. His goal is to see the company become the most sustainable health supplement company in the world. To that end, he is currently working with university scientists to develop the world’s first zero-waste extraction method for green-lipped mussels with the long-term goal of producing a zero-waste product.
He has also brought back the refillable system of the
1900s with their own unique twist; all their packaging is either compostable or recyclable. They include seeds and a soil tablet for people to grow plants. Ron has also introduced mycelium moulds, a product made from the roots of mushrooms mixed with hemp and pine that acts the same as Styrofoam to protect their products during delivery.
Business has taken off, with plenty of potential for further expansion. Ron currently employs four people, roping in the family when extra help is needed. At just 25 years of age, the young entrepreneur remains confident Kōrure is destined for bigger things but admits he probably never would have gone down this path if he’d known how onerous the task would be. ‘I was naive. I went in guns blazing. It was probably a blessing in a way. If I knew what I was going to have to go through, I never would have started.’ But it’s all been worthwhile. ‘If I was to lose everything tomorrow, the lessons and the learning have been priceless. It’s given me some amazing opportunities. That’s recognition on its own. I would like Kōrure to become a key player in the New Zealand supplement industry, promoting New Zealand to the world,’ says Ron.