Pharmachem formalizes foray into food and beverages
prompted Pharmachem Laboratories to tap the potential for use of
its dietary supplement ingredients in food and beverage products
and establish a food and beverage-focused New Business Group.
The new group, headed up by Gregory Drew, will identify custom manufacturing and branded ingredient opportunities from across the Pharmachem family of companies and drum up custom for them from the food industry.
Pharmachem is the name of the custom manufacturing business, as well as the group of companies that consists of American Ingredients, MPT Delivery Systems, natural extracts supplier Avoca.
Since the company's foundation in 1958 it has been a supplier of ingredients primarily to the nutraceutical industry. Asked why the company is venturing into foods at this time, Drew told NutraIngredients-USA.com: "The market is telling us to. It is the natural motion of the nutritional industry".
He believes the evolution of the industry is driven by consumers being more interested in health, and believing in the time-honored cliché 'you are what you eat'.
Last month the company announced that its StarchLite white bean derived carb blocker had been affirmed GRAS (generally recognised as safe); the company solicited this affirmation following enquiries from companies in the food sector.
"We are following the business," said Drew. "I think it is the future of our business. Through food and beverages we will reach a more mass market than those who are already health aware. Reaching more consumers means more volume of material, which means bigger business."
Drew explained that the focus of the food and beverage group is sales and marketing, but the structure of the company means that it will also involve a lot of product development - both of specific ingredients for customers or ingredient systems. Taking its existing ingredients into foods sometimes involves adapting them.
"That is the core of our business," said Drew. "Whether it is one of our proprietary ingredients or a standard ingredient, we add value to it so it works better in a specific product type."
Pharmachem is taking three anchor ingredients from its existing dietary supplement business into foods and beverages: StarchLite white bean-derived carb-blocker; Advasterol plant sterols; and Lactium milk protein hydrosolate, for which the company has US distribution rights from European manufacturer Ingredia.
Regulatory restrictions mean it is not possible to take all the company's supplement ingredients into food and beverages - only those that have been affirmed as GRAS (generally recognised as safe).
Following last month's GRAS announcement StarchLite is set to make its food debut before the year is out, with products in the final stages of development including a line of baked goods, juices, and a pasta product.
The company previously offered the carb-blocker as a dietary supplement ingredient called Phase 2 Neutraliser, as well as in a consumer product to be sprinkled directly over starchy foods called Carb Counters.
