• Guided tour of the world's largest spirulina farm.
• Cultivating only one pure algae.
• Ecological pond cultivation.
• Highest quality nutrients.
• A continuous fresh harvest.
• Quick drying preserves nutrients.
• Tableted and bottled finished products.
• Pesticide free. | Certified organic.
• Super spirulina and new research.
• Rigorous quality control and ISO 9001 program.
  
• Comparing to other microalgae: chlorella, aphanizomenon, dunaliella, haematococcus.
• Worldwide spirulina farms.
• Lake harvest farms.
• Advanced pond cultivation systems.
• Tubes, bioreactors and microfarms.
• Integrated production farms.
  

Tableted and bottled finished products

Spirulina powder is directly compressed into tablets and sealed into both glass and plastic bottles for finished products at a special facility at Earthrise Farms.

6.12. Automated bottling line.

Earthrise Farms has never used pesticides or herbicides. Because more and more people are concerned about pesticide residues in their foods, spirulina has been additionally tested for residual environmental residues since 1993. Independent lab tests have not detected any of over 66 possible contaminant residues, so product labels now state "pesticide free." Earthrise Farms felt this extra level of assurance was important to quality conscious natural food customers.

In 1996, Earthrise Farms began growing organic product, and will expand output based on market demand. A California state registered agency certified that it meets guidelines set by the U.S. Organic Foods Protection Act and the California Organic Foods Act of 1990. Organic foods must be produced with an approved farm plan which demonstrates agricultural sustainability through the use of acceptable nutrients, materials and crop management practices.

6.13. Juan Chavez, V.P., and certified organic growing pond, 1996.

Super spirulina has enhanced levels of beneficial nutrients. In 1994, Earthrise Farms launched spirulina containing 30 times more zinc, an essential mineral for our immune system. Organically bound zinc is more bioavailable than conventional zinc supplements. Farm scientists have been cooperating with researchers from outside institutions on scientific methodology, to document therapeutic properties and search for bioactive phytonutrients.

Earthrise Farms technicians collect samples from the pond water and the final dry product for dozens of different analytical tests. Only after each lot has passed all tests is it certified ready to ship, accompanied by a lab report. Independent laboratories in the USA and Japan periodically confirm protein, pigments, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, microbiology and heavy metals.

6.14-15. Technicians conduct 40 QC tests each day on living ponds and dry product.

Because of the concern about toxic blue-algae growing in lakes, Earthrise Farms developed a program to assure these toxic algae are not present in spirulina ponds. First, daily microscopic examinations of the living culture. Second, farm scientists in cooperation with university researchers, developed immunoassay and enzyme inhibition bioassay methods to detect nanogram levels of toxins.

ISO 9001 Certification
In 1998 Earthrise Farms was ISO 9001 registered for "the design, production, tableting and bottling of bulk algal and botanical products". The ISO 9000 series of international quality standards are now recognized in over 80 countries around the world. ISO 9001 is the most comprehensive of the standards as it covers product design, engineering, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing and sales.

Meets all international food safety and quality guidelines
Earthrise Farms is subject to inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the state of California. Its success in exceeding all food safety and quality standards is attributed to the remote farm location, clean air and water, premium quality nutrients, and the total quality management approach to quality control.

Three other microalgae are sold as natural food supplements: chlorella (green algae), aphanizomenon flos-aquae (blue-green algae), dunaliella (red algae), and haematococcus (green algae).

Chlorella - green microalgae
In the 1960s, early research focused on chlorella. This green microalgae is a small spherical cell with a cell nucleus, and appeared a billion years after blue-green algae. This was the first commercial success for microalgae, cultivated by specially designed high tech commercial farms. Thousands of tons have been sold each year for the past 20 years. Farms in Taiwan, Southern Japan and Indonesia produce almost the entire world supply.

Three drawbacks limit its potential as a new food resource for the developing world. First, chlorella culture is easily contaminated by undesirable weed algae. Unlike spirulina which flourishes in highly alkaline water unfriendly to other algae, chlorella grows in normal water conditions where many algae grow. Chlorella is grown in individual batches, started in a sterile test tube, moved to indoor tanks and then outside to larger ponds. When it achieves maximum density, the entire batch is harvested. Controls required for batch cultivation are more difficult for less sophisticated developing world farms.

Second, unlike spirulina, tiny chlorella cells cannot be harvested by a screen. Expensive centrifuges are required to separate the cells from pond water. Spirulina can be harvested with a simple cloth or a fine screen.

6.16. Chlorella cells in the microscope.

Third, chlorella's hard cellulose cell wall protects its nucleus but resists digestion by the human body, and nutrients cannot be fully absorbed. Commercial farms crack open this hard cell wall in the drying process, or mechanically crush it. Cell breaking procedures would be costly for low technology farms.

When researchers rediscovered spirulina in the 1960s, they praised its nutritional value and ease of cultivation. Even though chlorella was cultivated first, many algae scientists soon afterwards forecast spirulina would become a food of the future.

Aphanizomenon - blue-green algae
Many people have asked about the differences between spirulina and wild blue-green algae harvested from lakes. Spirulina is one kind of blue-green algae with a centuries long history of safe human consumption,known to be safe and nutritious. Hundreds of published scientific studies over the past thirty years have documented no toxicity.

Blue-green algae is also called cyanobacteria. Wild species grow in lakes and waterways, consuming whatever nutrients are in the water. Some species of cyanobacteria are toxic just like mushrooms and some land plants. Most kinds of microcystis, anabaena and aphanizomenon are toxic. Wild blue-green algae has not been subject to spirulina’s long safety testing.

6.17. Aphanizomenon flos-aquae cells in the microscope.

Companies that harvest wild blue-green algae from natural lakes cannot have the same control as growing spirulina at Earthrise Farms. Harvesting wild algae presents a far greater risk of contamination by cyanobacterial toxins. Spirulina can be cultivated in a pure culture, uncontaminated by other cyanobacteria. Farms can be specially designed and operated to produce spirulina under controlled conditions that do not allow the growth of other contaminant cyanobacteria as in lakes and waterways. Quality control tests assure spirulina meets all international food safety and quality standards.

Dunaliella for beta carotene
Dunaliella likes hot climates and needs water even saltier than the ocean, making places like the Dead Sea in Israel a good location. Farms are located in Israel, California, Hawaii and Australia. This microalgae is too salty to be eaten directly as a whole food, but its beta carotene, over 10 times more concentrated than spirulina, is extracted as an oil or powder and sold as a natural food supplement and antioxidant and a color for aquaculture feeds.

Haematococcus for astaxanthin
Recent production in Hawaii and other locations has been launched. Astaxanthin, a carotenoid pigment, is extracted to color salmon flesh, and will also be sold as an antioxidant food supplement.