|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
White Biotechnology for Flavours and Fragrances
|
|
Friday, 01 July, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
Dr Rina Singh and Paul Winters
|
|
fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d India’s food processing industry is growing rapidly in response to increased national and international demand for packaged foods and increasing global population. At the same time, the industry’s practices are evolving to meet the health-consciousness of consumers as well as demands for sustainability and environmental benefits. White biotechnology (also known as industrial biotechnology) enables production of flavours, fragrances and aroma ingredients through fermentation, which alleviates constraints on natural resources and replaces traditional chemical processes dependent on fossil fuel feedstocks. The commercial development of a few leading biotech processes for flavours and fragrances creates the potential for rapid development of new food ingredients, additives and process aids.
Within India, demand for prepackaged or processed foods is expected to grow from US$32 billion in 2015 to US$50 billion by 2017, according to an Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) survey. With rising standards of living, especially in urban areas, consumers’ preference for prepackaged meals has grown. About 79 percent of Indian households prefer the convenience and cost of processed foods, according to the Assocham survey, and about 76 percent of households in large cities, especially those with children under the age of 5, are serving easy-to-make meals at least 10 to 12 times every month. Most analysts expect demand for processed foods in India to continue to rise with economic growth and demographic shifts, which will drive additional growth for flavours and aromas within the Indian market.
The market for flavours and fragrances in India is estimated at US$400 million, according to Sitaram Dixit, former president, flavor and fragrance division, Oriental Aromatic. That market projection encompasses use of fragrances and essential oils in the personal care product industry and flavours and aromas in the food industry, each representing roughly half of the overall market, according to Dr G S Ranade, retired director of perfumery, international region, with BBA-IFF. Worldwide demand for flavours and fragrances – such as essential oils, natural extracts, and aroma chemicals – is expected to reach US$26.5 billion in 2016, with projected annual growth of 4.4 percent.
Consumers are conscious of the environmental impact associated with the products they use and assert a preference for those that are sustainable. Across 60 countries surveyed for Nielsen’s 2014 Global Survey on Corporate Social Responsibility, 55 percent of respondents said they are willing to pay more for products and services from companies that are committed to sustainability principles, such as a positive social and environmental impact. In the Asia-Pacific region, which includes India, 64 percent of respondents (especially those in the 21 -34 age range) said they choose products from sustainable sources over conventional products. Respondents in Latin America, the Middle-East and Africa also held strong (63 percent) preferences for sustainable products, while those in North America and Europe fell below the median (42 and 40 percent, respectively).
Consumers may believe that natural extracts and essential oils inherently have less of an environmental impact than chemically synthesised ingredients; but meeting worldwide demand with limited natural resources or those that come from sensitive ecosystems can have unintended environmental consequences.
India is the world’s largest producer of many spices and natural flavour ingredients. But worldwide demand for flavour ingredients exceeds availability of these sought-after natural resources – approximately 90 percent of raw materials in the flavour and fragrance industry are synthesised, rather than natural extractions. Demand for natural ingredients in products – especially foods – will ensure that India’s raw material resources continue to command a premium price and have a strong market. At the same time, the constraints on natural resources mean that demand for chemically synthesised flavours and aromas to meet the growing demand for processed food will remain high.
Biotechnology can enable the flavour and aroma industry to displace chemically synthesised ingredients with ones produced through fermentation. Fermentation is a commonly used process in production of natural foods, flavourings and ingredients, including yogurt, cheese, and breads. Many processing aides used in food and flavour ingredient production, including alcohols, are also generated through fermentation. Fermentation is a more sustainable method of production than traditional chemical synthesis, because it is more resource-efficient and generates fewer byproducts, according to a US EPA study, “Bioengineering for Pollution Prevention.”
White (or industrial) biotechnology has already enabled the efficient and large-scale production of vitamin additives to processed foods, providing a health benefit to consumers.
The same technology is now being used to generate flavour and aroma ingredients that are a more sustainable alternative to chemically synthesised ingredients. Microbial fermentation has been used for decades to produce single-molecule aroma and flavour chemicals. But newer projects aim to produce complex chemical structures that are analogous to natural botanical extracts or essential oils, with comparable properties to plant-derived ingredients. Firmenich and Amyris have co-developed Clearwood, a patchouli analogue, and continue development of flavour applications for the future. Robertet is collaborating with Gingko Bioworks to create a rose fragrance and have developed partnership for additional flavour compounds. Evolva has developed a vanillin flavouring and acquired technology from Allylix for a citrus aroma.
Several biotechnology companies are directly involved in the Indian market. Novozymes is the largest supplier of industrial enzymes in India; its key businesses are household care, textiles, food and beverages, oils & fats, baking and beverage alcohol. Novozyme’s mantra is contributing towards a sustainable future for growing the global biobased economy. The company has more than 500 employees in India itself, with R&D based in Bangalore and manufacturing operations in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.
DSM, one of the world’s leading producers of nutritional ingredients – including vitamins, food and beverage ingredients – recently announced their partnership with Sona Biscuits (SOBISCO) of India to help provide effective nutrition to consumers in the Eastern states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa. DSM is recognised for food safety, quality, and their ingredients are based on solid scientific research.
Some more recent partnerships in white biotechnology illustrate the potential for rapid development of new food, flavour and aroma ingredients.
Patchouli is an essential oil with a distinctive aroma; it is derived from a perennial shrub grown in Asia and South America. Patchouli growers sell the dried leaves of the crop for as much as US$350 per metric tonne; the purified essential oil can sell for over US$100 per kilogram, according to Motley Fool contributor Maxx Chatsko. Eden Botanicals, a leading wholesaler of natural essential oils, markets organic patchouli oil for US$300 per kilogram. The high price is an indication of the imbalance between available supply of the essential oil and demand for the fragrance.
Amyris, a biotechnology and renewable products company, has worked with Firmenich, one of the world’s largest flavour and fragrance producers, to develop Clearwood, a mixture of the sesquiterpenes and alcohols found in patchouli oil. Amyris engineered a yeast microbe to metabolise sugar into the novel hydrocarbon chemical compounds found in patchouli oil. Clearwood sells for half the price of patchouli essential oil, roughly US$47 per kilogram, according to Vigon International. Amyris produces Clearwood at its biorefinery in Brotas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and production volumes are expected to reach 400 MT by 2017, according to Dr Anthony J Clark of Ascentek, LLC. Amyris is collaborating with International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF) and Givaudan, other leaders in the flavours and fragrances market, to develop new and unique ingredients for fragrance and flavour compounds.
Essential oil of rose is extracted from the Damascus rose, and its scent contains several organic chemicals, including citronellol, geraniol, alkenes, nerol and linalool. Robertet, founded in 1850 in Grasse, France, pioneered the process of extracting essential oils from flowers. It is now one of the leading providers of rose essential oil to the fragrance industry. But rose essential oil cost US$8,750 per kilogram in September 2014 and then dropped to US$5,750 per kilogram in January 2015, according to the International Trade Center. Robertet collaborated with Gingko Bioworks, a Boston-based biotechnology company, to develop a new source of rose scent, since the price and quality of the essential oil fluctuates wildly from year to year, according to Bob Weinstein, chief operating officer at Robertet.
In an ongoing partnership with Robertet, Ginkgo Bioworks will develop a new palette of cultured ingredients from the lactone family to produce a creamy character and smell similar to coconut, peach, apricot and mango. The partnership is still at a pilot stage, with Gingko Bioworks producing batches of the scents for testing by Robertet. But the technology is flexible to produce flavour compounds in the future.
Vanilla is a flavour and fragrance compound derived by drying (fermenting) the seed pods of the vanilla orchid, which is grown in several countries around the world; vanillin is the key chemical ingredient in the vanilla flavour and aroma. An estimated 16,000 metric tonne of vanilla flavouring and vanilla extracts are produced each year on an average basis, with a value of US$650 million, according to Evolva. Of this total production, less than 1 percent is natural vanilla extract. However, natural vanilla bean and extracts can sell for US$1,500 per kilogram, while synthetic vanillin costs less than US$20 per kilogram. The value of the 40 to 50 metric tonne of natural vanilla beans produced each year represents roughly US$150 million of the US$650 million total trade in vanilla flavouring.
Evolva is a pioneer and global leader in sustainable, fermentation-based approaches to ingredients for health, wellness and nutrition. The company, in partnership with IFF, has brought vanillin produced through fermentation to the market. The company produces a glycoside precursor to the vanillin molecule with a yeast that metabolises glucose. It is also developing fermentation routes to produce saffron, the antioxidant resveratrol and stevia. Saffron is one of the world’s most expensive spices due to a very labour-intensive harvesting process, but Evolva has found a method to make all of the key saffron ingredients by yeast fermentation, which will lower the cost of production. The company also recently acquired US-based Allylix, which developed and commercialised nootkatone, a chemical with a citrus flavour and aroma similar to grapefruit.
Expected growth of the processed food industry through consumer demand for sustainable, health- and environmental-conscious but convenient food options, will create both opportunities and challenges for producers of flavours and fragrances. Biotechnology, which uses fermentation processes to generate flavours and fragrances, is a more sustainable option than synthetic ingredients that rely on fossil fuels. Further, they are more stable in price and can be more abundant than natural resources. The technology has evolved from producing simple chemicals and enzymes for food processing and vitamin enrichment to producing flavour and fragrance compounds. The first of these compounds has reached commercial availability; white or industrial biotechnology is developing rapidly enough to generate additional new food ingredients through partnerships with large multinational producers.
(Singh is senior director, industrial and environmental section, and Winters is director, communication, Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Washington. They can be contacted at pwinters@bio.org)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|