Microalgae Retreat

I got a call from Bob Capelli offering a place for me to participate in a Microalgae Retreat in Kona, Hawaii in March. Great, another chance and excuse for me to be heading to Hawaii. Bob sent to me an email later on which outlines Microalgae Retreat :

"Cyanotech Corporation will be hosting one of the most exciting events in the nutraceutical industry ever: A Microalgae Retreat on the beautiful Kona Coast of Hawaii’s Big Island. This retreat will focus on applications for microalgae in human nutrition, with a special focus on Astaxanthin and Spirulina. A tour of Cyanotech’s state-of-the-art 90 acre microalgae farm will also be included. The event will take place on Tuesday, March 6, 2007, right before the Natural Products Expo West. Space is limited, so anyone who is interested in attending should contact Bob Capelli at bcapelli@cyanotech.com or at 808.334.9415 as soon as possible"

This is probably the first of its kind. As they say in Hawaii, "Count me in, Bro"
Mahalo, Bob

Spirulina in 2006

It's been somewhat very busy year. Somehow one feels that it's been a very short year as time flies when one is so busy.

I have been traveling every other week for the first eleven months of the 2006. Spirulina businesses have brought me to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Hawaii and Los Angeles this year. Some of those places I have made multiple trips.

This year has been exciting in term of spirulina product creation. There have been spirulina fruit loaf, spirulina fruit cake, spirulina green tea, and spirulina coffee.

In March, Kona Green was launch in the Nutracon, it has generated some interests. In November, spirulina fruit loaf was launched, it has good successes in several countries. Spirulina coffee is still being evaluated by some of my customers.

I was lucky to be in Los Angeles again in March. This time my sister was with me, we got a chance to visit our cousin Angie Wong and had dinner with her family. I enjoyed their company. My sister is always special to me.

Another special person I met in March was Mark Ingley. Mark was my buddy who now stays in Fresno. He drove all the way from Fresno to Los Angeles just to have lunch with me while I was in Los Angeles-American warmth and hospitality touch me.

October earthquake in Kona worried me for a few days. The epic centre was right at Kona and there was possibility of Tsunami hitting Cyanotech farm. I was also concerned with all my friends in Hawaii, in particular those residing on the Big Island. Thanks goodness, no one was hurt, and the spirulina suffered only minor damages.

As 2006 come to a close, I am looking excitedly toward a great year for Hawaii spirulina in 2007.

Spirulina Fruit Loaf

Recently developed by McDee Natural Products NZ Ltd, of New Zealand. This Spirulina Fruit Loaf is yummy, yummy.

The formulation combined the best of Hawaii and New Zealand. Hawaiian Spirulina, and McDee Fruit from New Zealand. McDee Fruit is a dried natural fruit. Each kilogram of McDee Fruit is made from at least 3 kilogram of real fruits. There are two variants : Tropical and Wild Berry.

McDee Fruit claims to have the following features :

No Cholesterol
No Artificial Colors
No Preservatives
High Dietary Fibre
Rich in Vitamin C
No Artificial Flavors

This make it one of the most nutritious dried fruit in the market today. McDee Fruit and Hawaiian Spirulina is a good combination. Anyone who has been following this blog would have known about the goodness of Hawaiian Spirulina

To find out more : go to http://spirulina.sg/Spirulina_Fruit_Loaf.html

Earthquake at Kona

I was shocked to read about the earthquake at Kona yesterday. I was worried about all my friends, especially the folks at Cyanotech. I immediately called up my good friend Bob Capelli at home, and was relieved to find rfrom his wife that not much damage has been done to their home, except a coupld of broken windows.

I called my good friend Valerie and found that she was OK too. Sigh....sigh

Today, I received email from Dr. Cysewski that everything was fine at home (minor damages) and at Cyanotech. Cyanotech has in fact issued a statement on their site :

Qouote

"Cyanotech Corporation (Nasdaq Capital Market: CYAN) reported today that the company’s production facility on the Kona Coast of Hawaii suffered no significant damage from yesterday’s earthquake. As a safety precaution, all production systems were shut down on Sunday morning after the initial earthquake. Processing is now being started up and no problems have been reported."

Unquoted

I was worried about possible tsunami and thank goodness there was none.

I called Gerry Cysewski this morning to check if everyone in Cyanotech was affected, and was relieved to hear that no one suffered serious damage quite minor one.

My thoughts are with you folks in Hawaii.

Liquid Spirulina

Our company has received several requests for liquid spirulina recently. It seems that it has been made quite popular in this part of the world through MLM channels. The claim is that it is easier to be absorbed by our body. We do not carry this product. I was curious enough to buy one packet at a very high price to find out more about this product.

On closer examination on the liquid spirulina, Gosh, it has lot of "unhealthy" ingredients. For a start, it hits you with sodium benzoate, a preservative that is recently placed under close examination by FDA, for when it reacts with ascobic acid, the resulting substance called benzene is consider carcinogen. Benzene is formed when sodium benzoate and ascobic acid (or commonly known as Vitamin C) are mixed together. A single packet contain ten small tubes of one 150ml of liquid spirulina.

On the ingredient statement, it says it container 200mg of Spirulina. Whether it contains 200mg of Spirulina per tube or per packet was not stated very clearly. The price for one packet is approximately USD20 dollars. USD20 per 2gm of spirulina is a spectacular price. For regular consumer of our Hawaiian spirulina, you will know that the whole packet contains just equivalent of just four 500mg spirulina tablets. Additionally, different flavoured liquid spirulina contain gums, other preservative, and flavours such as Berry, Lime flavours. How on earth these flavoured, gums and preservatives loaded liquid spirulina can be sold to consumers as health food and liquid Spirulina (given that there are only 2g of spirulina in the whole packet)just beats me.

Kona Green Photo

Here is a photo of the Kona Green Spirulina Green Tea which I mentioned in my last blog. Each box contains 20 servings of Spirulina Green Tea. The offficial website is www.konagreen.com

Kona Green Spirulina Green Tea

A specialty spirulina product has just been launched last Friday in the ExpoWest and Nutracon Exhibition that has just taken place at Anaheim Convention Centre in Los Angeles. It is an instant spirulina green tea. It is made with Hawaiian spirulina and organic green tea powder. The brand name is aptly called Kona Green. Kona Green gets its name from Kona, where the spirulina is grown, and Green is named after the green products, ie. spirulina and green tea.

Kona Green spirulina green tea is packed in a handy 2gm (0.07 oz) sachet.It is really instant. All one has to do to enjoy this refreshing, nourishing, and thirst- quenching spirulina tea is to add 7 oz. hot or cold water to it.

Kona Green was conceptualised and developed with the founder of Cyanotech Corporation. The R&D team spent more than a year to test and blend green tea from various sources : China, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand just to achieve the balanced taste and nutritional profiles with Hawaiian spirulina. The company does a good job in producing in balancing the taste profile of spirulina and green tea.

In this product, one can enjoy the double benefits that can be derived from Hawaiian Spirulina and green tea. Hawaiian Spirulina is high in digestible proteins, carotenoids, minerals and vitamin. Green tea is good known to contain high level of antioxidant : Catachin or EGCG. EGCG has been known to retard the grown of harmful cells. Drinking green tea also help to lower total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol. Wow, sometime you can have your cake and eat it too.

Cyanotech announced All Natural Spirulina

Cyanotech and Earth Rise announced this week that both companies have ceased production of Organic spirulina. The main reason given was due to regulatory changes in the allowable nitrogen sources in the new organic standards. Replacing the organic spirulina is the all natural spirulina.

I was aware of the impending changes since 2003. However, I was hoping and hopeful that the production of organic spirulina could be continued beyond the stipulated period of October 2005. Disappointingly, it was not to be. Since October 2005, both companies have to stop producing organic spiurlina due to regulatory changes.

To quote Dr. Gerald Cysewski, Cyanotech’s Founder and CEO, “Cyanotech and Earthrise are the world’s premier producers of Spirulina. Both companies thoroughly studied the situation and came to the conclusion that maintaining organic production under the new standard would lead to a lower quality product at a higher cost. Furthermore, with the use of the new nitrogen sources, Organic Spirulina produced under the new standard may not be considered vegetarian or vegan, a critical point of distinction to many Spirulina consumers.”

If you ask me what am I going to do with the situation. I am going to continue taking the all natural spirulina exactly the amount as my usual comsumption of the organic spirulina from now on. It is a case of adaptation, rather than giving up.

Beware of False Claims

I was in Ho Chi Minh last month when I met up with a trader who was interested in buying Hawaiian spirulina from our company. I was also shown the trader's own brand of feedgrade spirulina which he intended to pack himself. I actually have no objection for him to repack any spirulina under his own brand and thought that was a smart thing to do. However upon careful examination of the label, there was a claim "Manufactured by Cyanotech" on his label. According to him, the content of his spirulina was sourced from a third party but not directly from Cyanotech or my company who is the official and exclusive distributor of Cyanotech products in Asean countries. Further he claimed to have processed the product. Whilst I could give him the benefit of the doubt that the spirulina he is packing could be from Hawaii, to claim the brand being "Manufactured by Cyanotech" was very misleading. The world is a very interesting place where people get very creative commercially. For those of you who are looking for cheap "genuine" products and when in doubt, it is always advisable to double check with the original producer or the official distributor. Caveat Emptor, if you buy from unofficial party

Spirulina Booster in Fruit Juice-Indonesia

I went to Jakarta Week 7 for business and stayed at Ciputra Hotel. One evening I was wandering around the a mall when I chanced upon a juice store which sold fresh fruit juices. Other than the usual fares which were freshly squeezed juices and fruit smoothies, this store offered a variety of fresh fruit juices with many types of boosters. Among them Multi-Vitamin, Ginseng, Vitamin C, Gingko Biloba, and of course Spirulina. Being a spirulina fanactic, I got to try out the Spirulina booster. A 300ml (10.2 fl oz)cup of fruit freshly squeezed guava cost 17,000 Rupiah (about USD1.80). Adding a table spoon of about 4g of spirulina booster set me back by another 3000 Rupiah (about USD 0.30). As I savored the juice, I could not taste the spirulina at all. May be the strong guava juice covered the taste. A few hours passed without me feeling the booster effect claimed which was "Helps increase energy". May be I was too tired to be boosted.

I went back to the same store the next day to have a closer examination. Yes, on closer inspection, I found the spirulina powder were actually mixed with some other ingredients such as glucose and starch-I wonder how much spirulina is actually in the booster? There was also a warning in a sales brochure that said the product may contain wheat gluten. So after all , this is quite a complex spirulina product, huh?

Is Spirulina Growing Environmental Friendly?

Someone asked me if Spirulina growing was environmentally friendly. Well, as spirulina grows, it does take in sunlight and carbon dioxide from the environment. In this photosynthesis process, spirulina produces oxygen to our atmosphere. So spirulina growing can be deemed as environmental friendly. In that sense, spirulina is no different like all other plants. Nevertheless, when human being and animals consume edible vegetables, fruits, plants and spirulina, through metabolism, carbon dioxide is than released back to the atmosphere. There is not much we can do about this natural cycle. However we can help the environmental by paying attention to the packaging materials of spirulina. Broadly speaking, spirulina on the market is either packed in glass bottles, or in plastic materials. We can do our part in helping the environment by selecting glass bottles over plastic packaging. Glass is a recyclable while plastic is difficult to be recycled. And as referred to in an earlier blog, spirulina packed in glass bottles remain fresher than those packed in plastic. Quality wise, therefore, spirulina packed in glass is better than plastic containers.
So we are in a win-win situation when we choose spirulina packed in glass bottles.

Pound of pound, one acre of cultivated spirulina could produce 8000 pounds of protein, whereas an acre of grazing land produces 46 pounds of protein in beef.

Whether spirulina is environmental friendly or not, it is in your hand.

Spirulina.sg and Google Adsense

I have come to know about Google Adsense and Adwords as two powerful Advertising tools on internet earlier this year. I did not know how it works and let it rested at that, thinking that it was going to be too technical for me and time consuming.

Towards the middle of December last year, I found myself with a bit of time and decided to explore and applied for Google Adsense. It was surprising easy to learn and use this powerful tools. I was amazed at how easy it was to apply the Adsense ads to my website. I have started with my favourite site: www.spirulina.sg. Don't know how it will actually turn up, but as it is said, No venture, No gain.

Spirulina Year-2006

Looking back 2005, it has been a year of foundation building. Two separate trips with Bob Capelli, Vice President of Cyanotech Corporation in 2005, covering cities in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore have laid the foundation for the years to come. I have even laid my hand on the internet, started my own blog, and created a website for spirulina. This website www.spirulina.sg is dedicated to provide more official information than this personal blog.

I have been learning about internet marketing since beginning of the year. I am now convinced internet is going to play a major role in my spirulina business. I will keep on going and learn to make use of this excellent tool.

Next year, I am aiming to create new spirulina related products. I have spent the whole of 2005 researching, creating, testing, and conceptualising some new spirulina based products and hopefully bring them to fruition in the new year. 2006-
The Year of Spirulina-Shall I say this is my new year resolution?

Visiting Big Island

Our family has unanimously voted to visit Big Island for our year end vacation. Five of us went to Kona last November. This time we stayed longer than our usual 2-3 days in Kona. We had a good fortune to find excellent accommodation at Moana Loa Village by the Sea, through RCI time share. This facility is fantastic. We were given a 2 bedrooms chalet, with fully equipped kitchen, and two and half bath.

Though we stayed at Keahou Bay,the proximity to Cyanotech is too strong a lure for me to resist visiting Cyanotech. We "dropped in" for a short visit to Cyanotech ended up spending the whole afternoon there on 28th November. Needless to say, the discussion centered on Spirulina and Astaxanthin.

This is my second visit to Hawaii for this year. I can't help but felt enchanted by this charming island. Someone, maybe Pele must been cast the Aloha spell on me.

I want to find more Hawaii products to sell in Asian, and I am now casting my eyes on Kona Coffee-another exquisite products from the Big Island other than Spirulina Pacifica from Cyanotech.

Meeting with VP of Cyanotech Corp

Last Friday I met up with Bob Capelli again. This time it was not for business. We met in Bangkok where he was vacationing with his lovely family. He had his wife, his son, and his daughter with him. They had just come come a trip to Cambodia and Northern Thailand backpacking. They seemed to enjoyed the trip so far, though looking a bit tire from the tough trip. We had lunch at one Chinese restaurant in Bangkok. We had pork shank for a starter. It was something different to the Capellis to say the least. Time seemed to fly when one had good company. Three hours zoomed by and we soon have to say goodbye. I thoroughly enjoy the Capelli, and I look forward to see them again in Hawaii in December when I will bring my whole family to Kona.

Talk on Spirulina and Astaxanthin were kept to a minimum last Friday, and I tried to resist any discussion on Cyanotech or Hawaii Spirulina as they were on vacation.

It's great to see you again, Bob.

Cyanotech Visit March 2005

I was back to Hawaii again earlier this month. It was short three days visit. Nevertheless, it was as enjoyable as usual. I had a chance to celebrate birthday with Bob Capelli on the day of my arrival. It was his birthday. Bob is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Cyanotech. We really got on very well. Bob is very supportive of my activities in ASEAN region. He is also a very approachable and wonderfully leader. He also works hard for the company. I have every faith that under his leadership, Cyanotech sales will enjoy steady growth.

For the three days that I was there, I had the chance to attend a yoga class, had lunch with Cyanotech's President Gerry Cyswedski, joined the top management to present some new ideas and products from our side of the world. I was treated like a VIP. Of course it always feel wonderful to see the spirulina farm and the magnificent Pacific ocean. Overall it was an excellent visit to renewed friendship, touch base and updating one another of what is happening and to learn about new ideas and the future direction of the company.

Packaging of Spirulina

I was at a natural health food store the other day. Naturally I asked to see the spirulina products they were carrying. To my shock and (perhaps disgust), the spirulina tablets they were selling were packed in a transparent PE bag. I asked why they were packed in this manner, the store keeper said nothing was wrong with the packaging. Why I am shocked is because the PE packaging is simply not good enough. As far as I am concerned, the most valuable nutrients in spirulina are the carotenoids. These carotenoids are easily oxidized with the PE packing. Ideally, the best packaging for spirulina products is tainted glass bottle, with a packet of oxygen absorber. This will ensure the products stay as fresh as possible.

Pet Foods with Spirulina

Spirulina is used in pet foods as well. Japanese fish foods producers are to chief users of spirulina. In Japan, most of the leading brand of Koi foods have spirulina added. It is believe that spirulina provide these benefits to farmed fish :
1) Better survival rate
2) Improve coloration
3) Better growth

Spirulina is popular with shrimp hatchries throughout the world. It is normally used as "spare food", as some kind of back up to crashed plankton. Hatcheries operators gratefully fed their larvae with spirulina when their plankton crashes. There are benefits in feeding spirulina to shrimp larvae. Studies has shown that spirulina increased survival rate of larvae, more resistant to stress , at the same time the size range become more uniform.

Even cat food and bird food producers are adding spirulina to their formulation. It is claimed that spirulina enhanced the sheen of the cats' fur and birds' feather. Hmm, I wish it could add sheen to our crowing glory too. Maybe someday,someone will produce a spirulina hair cream.

Spirulina in personal care products

There are now many other non-food items "enhanced" by adding a small dosage of spirulina as an ingredient. These are mainly personal care items : spirulina soaps, spirulina moisturisers, spirulina face masks, spirulina wraps, spirulina conditioners, spirulina shampoos. A whole suite of personal care items has sprouted from adding spirulina to otherwise ordinary items. The claims are that spirulina is rich in protein, Gamma Linelinic Acid(GLA), beta-carotene, enzyme (principally S.O.) and other micronutrients. These personal care items usually lay claims that spirulina contributes to whitening and smoothening of skin. Skin whitening is a big business in Asia, especially South East Asia. It is also said that spirulina helps in detoxification of various parts of the body. Additionally, spirulina lightens the contour, moisturises skin, and evening has a calming effect. Truly, spirulina is a nature's wonder. One day,I may not be able to escape using any personal care items without spirulina!!! (obliged to use customers' products)!!!

Spirulina Beer - The Ultimate Health Food

Do you like to stay young forever from drinking beer?

Yes, you can. You can stay young forever and drink an anti-aging beer, but you have to go to Myanmar for that.. Unless you can find someone in your country to import the spirulina beer made by Mandalay Brewery of Myanmar. I have my wish of staying young granted in Yangon in 2003. Indeed, I chanced upon that during one of my trips to Myanmar in 2003. I saw a bottle of spirulina beer in a Yangon foodmart. The label on the 330ml beer bottle has these descriptions: Spirulina Beer, Young Forever, Anti-Aging Drink. The alcohol content is 5%, and spirulina extract is 0.5. I bought one bottle to sample. I did not think much of how it would taste like. Spirulina beer? You must be kidding. Initially I took it (or shall I say drank it) with a pinch of salt. But to my surprise, it taste was rather agreeable. Let put it this way, one would not mind to sample a few bottles at a go, especially when one thinks of the health benefits of staying young from consuming this very palatable beer. You beer drinkers out there, now you can have you cake (beer) and eat(drink) it! These guys at the Mandalay Brewery have done a good job. Get your supermarkets and pubs to contact Mandalay Brewery

Spirulina Beer, Anti-Aging, Stay Young Foreover-this must be the Ultimate Health Food!!!

Food Products with Spirulina

Again, you will be amazed at the numerous consumer products that incorporate spirulina as an ingredient. It seems that spirulina sells. Apparently a product with the word "Spirulina" on its label will have its value enhanced. In addition, it also carries some sort of health connotation. Most products with spirulina added are able to fetch relatively higher selling prices than products with no spiurlina added. Previously the adding of spirulina in end products is particular popular with the mlm marketing companies in Asia, in particular in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan. The mlm marketers are responsible for creation of a lot of "Spirulina value added" products. But in the last few years, mainstream food processors have also been getting into the act, and joining the fray. Other than 3-in-1 instant malt cereal which was mentioned in my previous blog, there are also spirulina snacks, spirulina cuttlefish, spirulina mooncakes, spirulina cookies, spirulina coffee, spirulina energy bars, spirulina bottle drinks, chilled spirulina squash, spirulina noodles, spirulina fish balls. Almost at every excuse and opportunity, spirulina is added to "enhance" food products.

The corner drink kiosks are not to be left behind. There are now kiosks that serve fruit juices with spirulina and other energy enhancing ingredients. There drinks are served chilled like normal fruit juices or fruit punch with a small dose of spirulina powder thrown in. But the ultimate must be spirulina beer-I will take about that in next blog.

Spirulina Instant Malt Cereals

Though spirulina is normally taken in powder, capsules, or tablets forms by majority of the consumers. There are now an array of end products which include spirulina as ingredients. One very popular food item in Asia, is a 3-in-1 Spirulina Instant Malt Cereals. This particular product has gained tremendous acccptance in the Asian markets. In particular, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan. The Spirulina Instant Malt Cereals are made with as three main ingredients: 1) malted cereals, 2) Sugar, 3) Non Dairy Creamer, as the
3-in-1 name suggests, and a small amount of spirulina is added to the three main ingredients. It is very easily to serve: normally a consumer just pours 30 gram of the instant malt cereals (one serving is usually 30 gram packaged in a metalised aluminium foil into a mug and just added about 300ml of hot water to it. There you are, a tasty cup of spirulina instant malt cereal. Yummy, yummy. I sometime make my own formula as most of the 3-in-1 products in the market are too sweet for me, I make my own reduced-sugar, lite version. A pinch of cocoa powder or instant coffee powder could enhance the taste of my own 3-in-1 Spirulina instant malt cereals too.

Hawaii Spirulina Specifications

Analytical Specifications of Hawaiian Spirulina:
Property Limits
Protein >52%
Moisture <7%
Minerals <17%

Beta-carotene >1600 mg/kg
Total Carotenoids >3500 mg/kg
Phycocyanin (crude) >10%
C-Phycocyanin >4.5%
Arsenic <1 ppm
Cadmium <0.5 ppm
Lead <0.5 ppm
Mercury <0.025 ppm
Pesticides Negative
Microbiological Specifications:
Property Limits
Total aerobic bacteria: <105 cfu/gram
Total coliforms: <10 cfu/gram
E. coli: negative
Salmonella: negative
Staphylococcus aureus: negative
Certified Organic, Halal, and Kosher

What is Spirulina and how is it grown?

Someone asked me today what is Spirulina, and how is it grown?

Spirulina is a microscopic blue-green vegetable algae. It is a dried water vegetable eaten since the days of the Aztecs of Central America.

It is cultured in shallow, open ponds (approximately 20 cm deep). In Cyanotech,a combination of fresh water and supplemental deep ocean water is used to grow spirulina. The other components required for growing Spirulina are spirulina, sodium bicarbonate and carbon dioxide. Fertilizers are used and the deep-sea water is added as a rich source of minerals and trace elements. Paddle wheels agitate the water, ensuring even exposure of the algae to the sun for optimal growth and nutritional value.

The algae ponds are initially started from seed cultures that are grown to a certain density and then used to start a larger culture. Once a large culture is established it can continue indefinitely. As the culture grows to full density it is harvested by moving the water onto stainless steel screens. First there is a large filter to remove any debris, and then the very fine Spirulina filaments pass over a tiny mesh screen, which separates it from the water. This collected Spirulina is then further filtered with a filter cloth. Water is sprayed to wash out the soda and salts. It is now ready for drying. Hawaiian Spirulina is dried by patented ocean-chilled drying system.

Once dried, it can be consumed in powder form. Sometimes the powder are encapsulated or made into tablets. The daily recommended dosage is 3 gram.

About Spirulina Pacifica and Cyanotech

I have been associated with Cyanotech Corporation for nearly 10 years now. Cyanotech Corporation is located in Kona, on the island of Hawaii, fondly refered to by the locals as the Big Island. Cyanotech grows and commercializes Spirulina and Astaxanthin. The company's ideal location in Kona permits year-round harvesting of its spirulina and astaxanthin products in a cost-effective manner.

Cyanotech's main business is sales of Spirulina and Astaxanthin. Cyanotech own unique strand
of spirulina which has been evolving for the last 20 years, is known as Spirulina Pacifica. Spirulina Pacifica provides a vegetable-based, highly absorbable source of natural beta carotene, mixed carotenoids and other phytonutrients, B vitamins, gamma linolenic acid ( commonly known as GLA), protein and essential amino acids. Spirulina Pacifica produced by Cyanotech is one of the best spirulina, if the best, in the market. Due to the use of patent Ocean Chilled Drying Technology in drying spirulina, Cyanotech has been able to produce Spirulina that consistently yeilds higher amount of carotenoids compared to products that are dried by conventional dryers. Cyanotech currently sells its products in the United States and thirty other countries. Cyanotech has establishe wide wholesale and private label channels, and its own Nutrex brand. And our corporation and I am proud to be managing Cyanotech business in the ASEAN countries. I love selling spirulina and astaxanthin so much that I look forward to going to work everyday.

Cyanotech is also currently producing microalgae products for immunological diagnostics markets which I yet to learn about to introduce to the ASEAN markets.

Cyanotech is also active in the aquaculture feed/pigments and food coloring markets. This makes my work even more interesting, as it gives me a chance to learn about applications in other areas.

Cyanotech is truly a very unique microalgae growing company, a unique world leader in producing high quality microalgae products.

Cyanotech and My Love Affairs with Hawaii

I first learnt about Hawaii when I was about ten. I had the chance to watch a captivating performance by a visiting Hawaiian Dance Troupe in my hometown Penang, though I was too young to remember the name of the dance troupe. The Hula dancers simply blew me away.

My love affairs with Hawaii started when I went to study and work in Hawaii for two years in the early eighties. If I were to summarise my experience in Hawaii, it can be encapsulated in the word "Aloha". Aloha is a word used in Hawaii as greeting to someone which coud mean hello, welcome, regards, friendship, love, and everything that is good. You got to be in Hawaii to feel the Aloha. I have grown up in Malaysia, lived in Liverpool, and Manchester, England for four years, travelled around Europe and mainland U.S.A before I went to Hawaii. Only in Hawaii was I really felt truly accepted and welcome. Hawaii is a melting of our many culture and the Hawaiian people welcome people of all colours and creeds with open arms and open hearts. I left Hawaii after two years in 1984, and I was lucky to be able to return almost every other year to continue my love affairs with my favourite land. Hawaii is still enchanting to me to this day.

I started my own business in October 1990, and since then I have been constantly looking for legitimate excuse to continue my bi-annual visit to Hawaii. In 1996, I came to know about a company called Cyanotech, located in Kona. I immediately wrote to Cyanotech to enquire about possibility of representing them to sell their spirulina in Asia. Cyanotech was already selling their human grade spirulina in Australia, and China then. But being as keen as I was to start a business with a Hawaiian company, I urged Cyanotech to sell to me their off specification spirulina which I intended to sell to some customers in the aquaculure industry. I was fortunate to meet up with my pal Kelly Moorhead, Vide President of Sales and Marketing then for Cyanotech, when he went to Indonesia shortly after I wrote to Cyanotech. I never look back since.

For a start, I took some risks with Cyanotech by importing a small quantity of off specification spirulina to sell to the aquaculture industry, and I was lucky to achieve small successes on my first import. In fact, it turned out that a couple of years later Cyanotech actually created a whole aquaculture business for itself. Today, Cyanotech not only sells spirulina to aquaculture industry, it also sells and has become a leader in the natural red pigment (Astaxanthin) used in the Aquaculure industry. Happy to say that I am now part of this success.

And I intend to continue this love affair for as long as it lasts..............