Lycored have announced a joint venture with Algatechnologies (Algatech), a premier biotechnology company and global leader in cultivating microalgae and production of natural astaxanthin. Lycored will distribute Algatech's AstaPure natural astaxanthin carotenoid in the form of beadlets, increasing the brand's commercial reach for this product range in the North American market.

“Lycored wanted to evolve its astaxanthin offerings while maintaining our commitment to distributing premium quality ingredients that consumers and industry partners can trust,” said Golan Raz, Head of Global Health Division at Lycored. “We are able to maintain vertical integration through this partnership as it is the process Algatech takes when developing their astaxanthin ingredient. Lycored will also have complete access and transparency of Algatech's supply chain to be able to control and ensure the optimal quality of the nutrient.”

Astaxanthin is a carotenoid most commonly found in shrimp, salmon and healthy algae. Algatech sources this colorful pigment through the microalgae haematococcus pluvialis and develops it into raw astaxanthin oil. This nutrient, which Lycored will process as oil beadlets to create a gelatin and vegan Astaxanthin beadlets, also has antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, has been linked to healthy cardiovascular and immune systems, and has potential effects on the aging process.

Once in its vegan beadlet form, Lycored's North American commercialization team will market and distribute it to develop a foundation for this new range of their astaxanthin business, where the beadlets can be used for dietary supplements and are generally recommended as safe for use in food and beverages. Specifically, the astaxanthin beadlets can be combined with other nutrients in product formulations, such as dry blended beverages and health bars, as a way to help satisfy today's market demand for supplementary nutrition.

“Supplying the world with pure, 100% natural microalgae requires a tremendous amount of knowledge, experience, fully controlled processes and a constant attention to detail. Beyond the biology and the technology, it takes a never-ending determination and a drive to keep going despite the odds. For us, it's a fundamental part of our shared vision: to make an impact by bringing the good that's in microalgae to the world, and we strive to do that through diversify high quality delivery forms.

Therefore, partnering with Lycored on Astaxanthin Beadlets was a natural choice for us,” says Hagai Stadler, CEO of Algatech. “Lycored micro capsulation technology, as well as its core values and passionate team is the right partner for Algatech, and will contribute significantly to the development of the Astaxanthin market.”

This timely partnership comes following Lycored's newest patent for ‘Astaxanthin Anti-Inflammatory Synergistic Combinations’, which acknowledges that the synergistic combination between astaxanthin and tomato-derived lycopene works to suppress inflammation in the body. For Lycored, tomatoes and lycopene were just the beginning. Through its partnership with Algatechnologies Ltd., Lycored will be able to offer a superior algae-derived astaxanthin, a reflection of both its commitment to excellence and its firm belief in collaboration.

Elsewhere, Lycored will be showcasing the super-stability of its natural colors for food and beverages at next month’s IFT 17 (25-28 June).

The international carotenoid experts are getting creative to demonstrate the many advantages of their natural colorants, and to contrast them against less effective alternatives.

Visitors to Booth #1891 will be able to watch a time-lapse film showing that Lycored’s carotenoid-derived colors for fruit preparations do not bleed or fade in yogurt. By contrast, the film will demonstrate severe migration from a carmine-based colorant, and fade and distortion from a fruit preparation with no color.

Tammi Higgins, Business Unit Head, Colors, at Lycored, said: “We wanted to bring home how well our natural colors for fruit preps perform in yogurt. Time-lapse photography was the perfect way to do that. When you see the stability of preps colored with our true-to-fruit products, and compare it with the bleed and migration you get from carmine, the contrast is stark.”

Excellent Performance in Beverage Applications
Lycored will also be highlighting the stability of its natural color range in beverage applications. In recent tests, both Tomat-O-Red(R) and Lyc-O-Beta (R) delivered excellent performance in sparkling flavored waters, demonstrating resistance to fading, ringing and lack of sedimentation.

The company’s natural colors have also been shown to perform excellently in flavored and colored UHT milk drinks, demonstrating stability to UHT and homogenization processes, as well as UV light, and heat.