Here at Lintbells, we’re really proud of our ActivEase® Green Lipped Mussel. It’s an amazing ingredient, thanks to its extreme purity and health-promoting powers.
If you read much about our YuMOVE pet health supplements, sooner or later you’re sure to come across a reference to ActivEase® Green Lipped Mussel. This provides an incredibly concentrated source of Omega 3, which is proven to soothe stiff joints. Sourcing and strength make all the difference – our Green Lipped Mussel for Dogs contains 4 x more active Omega 3 than standard versions.
So what are these magic mussels, where do they come from, and why are we so enthusiastic about them? Read on to find out.
The best quality ingredients from the purest sources
Green Lipped Mussels are found in the crystal-clear waters around New Zealand.
They’ve been a source of food for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. Their secret was originally known only to the Maori, but nowadays New Zealand Green Lipped Mussel farmers supply restaurants and food shops around the world.
These mussels can also be dried into powder for use in supplements. However, many of these mussels, and the processes used to dry them, are not up to the job. This means the supplements are less effective than they could be, despite the many potential health benefits of the mussels in their original state. At Lintbells, we’ve taken a phenomenal amount of time and care to identify and source the best possible products so they’ll have the maximum effect on your pet’s health.
Why is ActivEase® Green Lipped Mussel 4x more effective than standard Green Lipped Mussel?
- We choose mussels from the best sources
Most Green Lipped Mussels are grown in the coastal waters to the north of New Zealand’s South Island. They develop on lines in individual bays in these waters, and the location of the bays, and the lines within the bays, can have a significant effect on the quality of the mussels themselves.
We’ve spent a lot of time identifying the top farmers, the most suitable bays and the best-performing areas within the bays, to ensure we source the highest quality mussels available. As far as we know, we’re the only supplement company in the world that personally knows the farmers that grow our mussels, and we believe they’re the best mussel farmers and farms in New Zealand. In short, we buy the very best mussels available, as opposed to sourcing from rejects or waste products from the food industry.
- We make sure they’re harvested at the right time
The time when mussels are harvested also affects their quality – if you choose the wrong moment to harvest them, the quality drops significantly. We’ve taken time and trouble to research and confirm the best time to harvest in each individual bay.
- We get them to the drying facility fast
We ensure all our Green Lipped Mussels are delivered directly from the farm to the drying facility, within hours of being harvested. That way we can get them into chillers to protect them, ready for drying.
- We dry them carefully to retain all the goodness
Having sourced the very best mussels, we then need to turn them into powder very carefully to retain all their active goodness. If you’re not careful, it’s easy to damage the active ingredients in the mussel.
Traditionally Green Lipped Mussel is freeze dried for extraction, which is a much longer process (24 - 48 hours) and, contrary to what its name suggests, involves high levels of heat over a prolonged period, which damages the product. Combine this with poor quality mussels and you end up with a much less effective product.
To protect the essential Omega 3 oils and other important ingredients, we use a very rapid vacuum-drying process that reduces the mussels to powder in a matter of seconds. That means we don’t need to use high temperatures (which can damage the delicate active ingredients) and the speed leaves very little time for damage to occur.
The result is a premium-quality, exceptionally potent powder with significantly higher levels of important Omega 3s than those found in other Green Lipped Mussel powders.
This is what allows us to make our ‘4 x stronger’ claim. This is actually an understatement, because ActivEase® Green Lipped Mussel is often five times stronger (or even more) than other Green Lipped Mussel powders, but quadruple strength is our minimum claim!
- We subject every batch of powder to stringent quality analysis
Having used all the processes above to make sure we’ve created the best possible product, we then test every single batch of Green Lipped Mussel to check the levels of over 40 different fatty acids.
We insist on very high minimum levels and measure them on every single batch of powdered mussels. In over six years of testing, we have met, or even exceeded, our stringent standards and specifications every time. In comparison, some other processors may simply measure some of the Omega 3 fatty acids in a few samples, when and if they’re asked to.
Our minimum specifications are set by the levels of these fatty acids present in the YuMOVE batches that were used in our Royal Veterinary College clinical study. That’s why we can assert positively that YuMOVE has ‘clinically proven’ levels of Omega 3 fatty acids. And our commitment to maintaining the highest possible quality standards means you can be sure that every YuMOVE tablet contains the same beneficial ratio of fatty acids.
That means we’re the only company in the world that can ensure and guarantee a quality level far above the market standards on every single batch of ActivEase® Green Lipped Mussel powder. And it’s why we can state with confidence that we offer the world’s top-strength Green Lipped Mussel.
Giving you confidence that we’re doing the best for your companion animals
Our care, quality control and passion for our product means you don’t need to look anywhere else if you want the best quality Green Lipped Mussel for dogs or cats.
You can also be confident our standards will never drop. In fact, they’re rising, because we’re currently:
- Putting even more processes in place to secure the best mussels.
- Improving the processing methods to ensure an even better product.
- Creating more stringent tests to guarantee quality.
- Investing in research to help us develop even better ActivEase® Green Lipped Mussel powder.
- Planning to invest in environmental and conservation programmes to ensure our supplies are as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible, and benefit the local communities where they’re produced.
Our aim is to ensure Lintbells is always at the forefront of top-quality Green Lipped Mussel production.
Find out how we use ActivEase® Green Lipped Mussel to support pet health in our YuMOVE range of joint supplements. Click here to find out more.