Becoming The World's Leading Fish Oil Producer
The Lýsi Story
The story of Lýsi is one of vision and innovation. It began when brothers Tryggvi and Thordur Olafsson first founded Lýsi and started producing fish oil on the shores of Iceland in 1938. Lýsi was then, as it is now, a pioneer of fish oil production.
Within its first two decades, Lýsi became Iceland’s largest producer of cod liver oil. Key markets during this period included the USA and the UK. Despite demand for cod liver oil
decreasing post 1950 and well into the sixties and seventies, Lýsi maintained profitability. The early focus on R&D, production methods and consumer-oriented products secured this profit.
Now a third generation family business, the pioneering Lýsi spirit was taken to another level when Katrin Petursdottir became Managing Director in 1999. The granddaughter of one of the founding brothers, Tryggvi Olafsson, Katrin has built upon the market-leading know-how of Lýsi through key relationships with the University of Iceland and Matis, the Icelandic Food and Biotech R&D. She has also overseen the development of state-of-the-art production facilities in 2005 and 2012.
Lýsi’s success is also founded on exemplary marketing and sales. To put this in perspective, Lýsi owns an 11% market share of global fish oil production and we produce more cod liver oil than any other company worldwide.
A constant focus on the properties and usage of marine lipids, and effective business partnerships focusing on innovation and distribution have made Lýsi what we are today – The World’s Leading Producer of Fish Oil.
certified sustainability
Sustainability is at the heart of the Lýsi fish oil production process. We believe in safeguarding our environment responsibly in order to protect it for future generations. All the Icelandic fish we use come from fisheries certified by the IRF (Iceland Responsible Fisheries). This programme requires participating companies to adopt effective legal and administrative systems that prevent over-fishing and comply with the strictest international requirements of the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Lýsi is also able to demonstrate its sustainability through our MSC certification by the Marine Stewardship Council. The MSC sets standards for sustainable fishing and supply chain traceability. Furthermore, Lýsi’s products are also FOS certified by Friends of the Sea, which is a non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is the conservation of the marine habitat. Our products are also certified by the IFFO RS (The Marine Ingredients Association). To achieve this certification, Lýsi’s sites were independently audited to ensure the value chain of our marine ingredients are responsibly sourced and produced.
In 2017 we began our journey into the US.
Sean Edwards And Ross Kunmann
In 2017, business students Sean Edwards and Ross Kunmann connected with Lysi while attending Coastal Carolina University. After traveling to Iceland and executing a consulting project for Lysi, including a US branding a launch strategy, Sean and Ross were awarded the opportunity to bring the internationally adored brand to the US.