When the mussels reach peak condition at around 18 months of age, they are harvested and shipped live in refrigerated trucks to the factory in Auckland. This facility is constructed to pharmaceutical industry standards and has New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture, US FDA and EU registration. On arrival, the mussels are transferred to cool storage and processed through a unique extraction process. The liquid extract is then immediately transferred to trays and snap frozen in preparation for freeze drying in one of four microprocessor-controlled high capacity freeze driers. The dry extract is milled to produce a fine powder and encapsulated into hard gelatine capsules.