Cargill to expand chondroitin manufacturing
sulfate plant in Denver, Colorado within the next few months, it
said yesterday.
The firm's OptaFlex brand chondroitin sulfate is a proprietary form that is produced from a water-based process, and said to offer better taste and functionality in food and supplement applications.
Sales of chondroitin sulfate are seeing strong demand as consumers seek natural products for joint health.
Cargill has a growing market presence in this category, recently adding a vegetarian version of another joint health ingredient, glucosamine.
Recent GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status for the OptaFlex brand has resulted in a number of innovative customer projects, according to the firm.
Joint health has come under the media spotlight in the last year following the withdrawal of COX-2 inhibitors, drugs commonly used to treat arthritis and related pain.
"We have seen a significant pick-up in people looking to develop products with chondroitin," product manager at Cargill health food and technologies Lee Knudsen told NutraIngredients.com late last year.
"There is increasing awareness that some of these drugs might not be available in the future and that we need to be preventative," he explained.
Chondroitin already rakes in up to $1 billion in retail sales in the US, and with price pressure on raw materials - bovine and other animal cartilage - the ingredient is becoming more expensive. It currently ranges from around $65 per kg to $150 for the higher quality material.
But the ingredient continues to grow at around 5-7 per cent, with new food applications likely to sustain this momentum.
"The majority of people consuming glucosamine are women, and rather than taking large doses in supplements, we would like to develop other applications to give them new options," said Knudsen.
