Dive Brief:
- Ingredient supplier Oterra has entered a multi-million dollar partnership with biotech firm Debut to scale an alternative to Red 40 food dye in the U.S., one of the most widely used artificial dyes.
- Oterra, formerly known as Chr. Hansen Natural Colors, will use Debut's precision fermentation process to create the natural color alternative. The technology will also allow the ingredients company to produce color solutions spanning orange, red and violet.
- The alternative can work across a broad range of food and beverage applications and is compatible with vegan, kosher and halal certifications. The companies will work toward FDA approval with the goal of bringing a commercially scaled product to market in three years.
Dive Insight:
Denmark-based natural color supplier Oterra is making a big play for the U.S. market as food and beverage companies face regulatory pressure to voluntarily transition to natural dyes by the end of this year.
Oterra already has a range of natural color solutions for Red 40, including dyes from red sweet potatoes and beets. But tapping into Debut's precision fermentation technology will allow Oterra to better scale the natural color and provide companies with a stable supply that's less connected to the volatilities of agriculture.
"If we manage the supply chain of the fermentation flow, it should be stable quality and not dependent on weather," Luc Ganivet, head of innovation for Oterra, said in an interview with Food Dive. "That also means stable pricing, so no price fluctuation linked to crops."
Red 40 is widely used as a color additive in sports drinks, sodas and candies. Close to 60% of branded candies use the artificial dye, according to an MIT analysis, and it's also found in 21% of sodas.
Ganivet said Debut's technology will give it a leg-up in the U.S. market, which is increasingly becoming crowded with ingredient suppliers hoping to capitalize on the rush to reformulate. Developing Red 40 through fermentation will scale supply and unlock other dye alternatives, including a potential replacement for Yellow No. 6.
"We are really going for big volumes and the one pigment developed through fermentation will have a huge range of application, much wider than what you are seeing today in the market," Ganivet said. "It could be a breakthrough to bring something with fermentation at huge volumes of scale."
Precision fermentation is a process that turns microorganisms, such as yeast, into mini factories, programming them to produce ingredients like proteins or even natural food dyes. As climate change and other challenges drive up the cost of ingredients, the technology offers a promising and less environmentally intensive solution to affordably scale food production.
However, precision fermentation's acceptance among consumers remains a potential barrier to expansion. The FDA recently delayed approval of a beetroot red color produced using fermentation after a consumer group argued it is synthetically and not naturally produced.
Ganivet stressed that precision fermentation is a complement, not a replacement, for natural dyes by offering food companies more options. Oterra is continuing to innovate for the U.S. market, recently opening a Wisconsin innovation hub to better support its food and beverage customers.
"This partnership is a stellar line with a strategy for us to bring new solutions, not only short term, but also long term, to keep the leading position," Ganivet said.
