April 7/Cardiovascular Business Week -- Martek Biosciences Corporation has signed a five-year agreement with COFCO Food Sales & Distribution Co. Ltd., a branch of the COFCO group, for the use of Martek's life'sDHA in COFCO cooking oils and potentially other categories.

In China, the edible cooking oils market is excess of $9 billion and continues to grow each year. China is the world's largest consumer of edible oils, at 24 million tons per year.

"We are pleased to be working with COFCO, a leader and innovator in the Chinese cooking oil industry, to introduce the first healthy cooking oil with life'sDHA to Chinese consumers to help support brain, eye and heart health," said David Abramson, president of Martek. "This product launch is a significant milestone as we seek to expand our presence in international markets like China, and as we continue to diversify our product applications, including the large and growing cooking oil category."

From the April 12, 2010, Prepared Foods E-dition