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Production of Natural
Carotenoids
Why carotenoids? The coloring foodstuffs market is currently growing at 10-15%/year driven by consumer interest in natural products. The market for carotenoids alone is worth an impressive 1 billion USD, most of which supplied by chemical manufacturing processes. This colorant and anti-oxidant has been produced synthetically since the 1960's for use in the food industry and it accounts for about 25% of the overall carotenoid market.
The chemical way... Over 90% of the beta-carotene on the market is obtained by chemical synthesis using petroleum-derived raw materials. The production processes rely on total synthesis approaches, involving a rather long series of chemical steps ending with a C20+C20 reaction or a C19+C2+C19 reaction. Further, the chemical product can not be labeled as "natural", and thus does not penetrate the higher value and fast growing market segments.
Biotrend's solutions Biotrend has developed a novel bioprocess for the production of natural beta-carotene with high purity and 100% pro-vitamin A potency, using naturally occurring microorganisms. Our simple one-step fermentation process is highly reproducible and scalable, conveying major competitive advantages over alternative natural beta-carotene production processes. It is the first economically feasible technology that uses naturally occurring, non-genetically modified bacteria for the production of carotenoids. It offers a natural product with all the technological and functional characteristics required for all its established uses.
Biotrend is currently adding new colours to its porfolio. Lycopene and canthaxanthin will be the next molecules availabe through Biotrend's natural process.
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