Symrise is presenting its broad range of diana foodTM blueberry ingredients and active compounds. Like other products from the portfolio of natural ingredients, it features various characteristics and performance benefits. They include competitiveness, various organoleptic properties, application-specific high-quality standards as for baby food, distinct certification like organic, and the option to claim health benefits.
Consumers around the world like blueberries for their indulgent properties and healthy image. These berries come with a delicious taste profile of fruity, sweet, and acidic notes. Also, they can contribute to maintaining health thanks to their content in antioxidants and phenolic compounds.
To always meet consumers’ expectations, Symrise leverages on its worldwide network of selection, sourcing, and processing facilities. For blueberry, the company responsibly sources three different species, from three distinct geographical regions, and processes the fresh fruits at locations close to the growing sources.
Symrise processes blueberry ingredients in France, Canada, and Chile. The production preserves the fruit’s inherent beneficial properties by using different technologies: concentration, to obtain juice concentrate; spray drying and roller drying technologies, to obtain various product formats (powders, flakes, and crunchies); and extraction, to concentrate the actives compounds.
Three blueberry species with distinct properties
- Vaccinium myrtillus, also known as bilberry, grows in Eastern & Northern Europe. It has become popular for its distinctive blueberry taste and goes predominantly into sweet goods applications. Bilberry often goes into eye health products, thanks to its anthocyanins content.
- Vaccinium angustifolium, wild blueberry (lowbush) is one of the oldest native berries in North America. It successfully grows in the harshest climatic conditions, which results in fruit with three times the phenolic compounds and twice the antioxidant power of blueberry (highbush). Wild blueberry (lowbush) stands out for varied health benefits. Findings from several clinical studies indicate that wild blueberry may provide benefits for delayed memory, mood, learning performance, and executive functions. With its range of wild blueberry (lowbush) extracts, highly concentrated in polyphenols, Symrise brings these health benefits into convenient formats for dietary supplement applications.
- Vaccinium corymbosum is a blueberry cultivated in Latin America. Its intense dark purple color offers an interesting visual contrast and allows fruit recognition, particularly appreciated in food applications. They taste sweet and offer low acidity. As a cultivated crop, this species offers the most cost competitive solution of the three varieties.
Manufacturers can use the solutions from the three blueberry species in many applications, from RTD drinks and smoothies to breakfast cereals, bars, dessert toppings, baby and toddler snacks, sports nutrition products, and dietary supplements. With more than twenty distinct product references, Symrise offers solutions ranging from powders over flakes to crunchies.
GNT has expanded its range of EU organic-certified EXBERRY® colouring foods with new yellow and green shades made from organic safflower.
The organic market is seeing exceptional growth1 as modern consumers pay closer attention to food and drink products’ health and sustainability credentials. In response to the rising demand, GNT has launched two new EXBERRY® organics products.
EXBERRY® organics ‘Fruit & Veg Yellow’ is made from organic safflower and organic apple, while EXBERRY® organics ‘Veg Green’ is made from organic safflower and organic spirulina. Both are compliant with Organic Regulation (EU) 2018/848.
Suitable for a wide variety of food and beverage applications, the new products extend an EXBERRY® organics range that already features red, purple, blue, and orange options.
GNT Europa’s Managing Director, Petra Thiele, said: “EXBERRY® organics can be used to create spectacularly vibrant food and drink while maintaining perfectly clean ingredient lists. We’re delighted to now be able to introduce colouring foods made from organic safflower concentrate to the market, opening up exciting new possibilities for organic brands.”
Based on the principle of colouring food with food, EXBERRY® organics are created from edible fruit, vegetables, and plants using traditional physical processing methods. They are certified organic in accordance with EU regulations and qualify for completely clean and clear label declarations throughout much of the world.
EXBERRY® organics concentrates are also 100 % vegan-friendly, halal, and kosher. In addition, the fully traceable raw materials are grown using sustainable methods by farmers working as part of GNT’s vertically integrated supply chain.
1FiBL & IFOAM ‘The World of Organic Agriculture’ (2022)
Endress+Hauser BioSense to develop equipment and methods for fast molecular analyses
Increased safety in food production and other process applications is the declared aim of the joint venture between Endress+Hauser and Hahn-Schickard. To this end, both partners have established Endress+Hauser BioSense GmbH based in Freiburg, Germany. Its aim is to enable rapid, on-site molecular analyses for the detection of bacterial or viral contamination in water and beverages, genetic modifications in food or contaminated milk.
The research and development service provider Hahn-Schickard has been working closely for many years with the Department of Microsystems Engineering at the University of Freiburg to develop rapid diagnostic tests that can detect extremely small concentrations of infectious pathogens with portable instruments. The joint venture is now aiming to transfer this technology from the field of medical diagnostics to industrial process and laboratory automation applications.
Innovative cluster
During the first few months, Endress+Hauser BioSense will operate in spaces located at the university and Hahn-Schickard. Next year the company will move into the university’s innovation center, FRIZ, currently under construction on the campus of the Faculty of Engineering. The start-up will thus expand Endress+Hauser’s activities in Freiburg, where developers are already working on new sensor technologies, biosensors and Industry 4.0 solutions.
In the development of equipment and methods for molecular analyses for process and laboratory environments, Endress+Hauser BioSense will be working closely with IST Innuscreen GmbH in Berlin, which is also part of the Endress+Hauser Group. IST Innuscreen offers a broad portfolio of nucleic acid isolation and molecular diagnostics products and among other things supplies kits and assays for PCR diagnostics.
Experienced leadership team
The joint venture is 75 percent owned by Endress+Hauser, with the remaining 25 percent held by Hahn-Schickard. Dr Nicholas Krohn, who has in-depth knowledge and experience in the field of food analysis, will serve as managing director of the new company. Dr Stefan Burger and Dr Martin Schulz, two long-time employees of Hahn-Schickard who obtained their doctorates in the field of molecular diagnostics at the University of Freiburg, will round out the management team.
