Production of eicosapentaenoic acid from filamentous fungi utilizing lactose as a primary carbon source

A process for the production of 5,8,11,14,17 -eicosapentaenoic acid from filamentous fungi, which method comprises:

• (a) introducing a nutrient medium effective for the growth of filamentous fungi into a reaction vessel, which medium comprises a nitrogen source and a lactose component as the sole or primary carbon source;
• (b) introducing an inoculum of filamentous fungus into said medium, which filamentous fungus is capable of utilizing lactose for growth and is capable of producing lipids which contain 5,8,11,14,17 eicosapentaenoic acid;
• (c) harvesting the resulting mycelia;
• (d) extracting the lipids from said mycelia by first comminuting said mycelia and subsequently treating the mycelia with a solvent selected from the group consisting of C.sub.2 -C.sub.4 aliphatic alcohols, C.sub.4 -C.sub.7 aliphatic hydrocarbons and mixtures thereof;
• and
• (e) separating the extracted lipids from the mycelia.