Dive Brief:
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Kemin Industries has introduced a blend of rosemary, spearmint and green tea extracts to replace synthetic preservatives and extend shelf life in sauces and salad dressings, Store Brands reports.
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Kemin is marketing the plant extract blend as NaturFORT RSGT and says it can be used as a replacement for the preservative ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), a safe but unfriendly-looking ingredient for product labels. The company claims its extract blend allows manufacturers to replace EDTA without the need for refrigeration and with a comparable shelf life.
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“It offers improved efficacy over the current plant-based solutions,” said the company’s technical manager, Chandra Ankolekar. “While rosemary targets the oil phase when added to an emulsion, spearmint and green tea remain in the aqueous phase. A part of the actives works at the interphase, which is known to be the hot spot for oxidation, slowing down lipid oxidation and extending shelf life.”
Dive Insight:
Food and drink companies have been overhauling their products to answer consumer demand for more natural ingredients and ingredient lists that are easier to understand. Synthetic preservatives have been a particularly important target, as 59% of shoppers say they look for claims that indicate minimal processing, such as "no artificial preservatives," according to the Food Marketing Institute’s 2017 Grocery Shopper Trends.
However, replacing synthetic preservatives presents a significant challenge due to their complex functions in finished food and drink products. Ingredients companies have risen to the task, and suppliers say demand for natural alternatives continues to grow. Rosemary extract is one of the most commonly used natural preservatives, but it is most suited to preventing oxidation in fats and oils. Blending it with other plant extracts that provide an antioxidant effect in the aqueous part of an emulsion — as Kemin claims to have done with its new ingredient — could extend the use of rosemary even further.
Apart from rosemary, spearmint and green tea extracts, researchers are looking at a range of other plant-based materials for their potential antioxidant effects, including from olive waste water, and grape waste from the winemaking process.
While there is undeniable demand for natural preservatives, manufacturers must take care not to sacrifice other product attributes that consumers take for granted, such as food safety, affordability and long shelf life. It looks likely that this task will become easier over time, as food scientists and ingredient suppliers find new ways of working with natural materials.