KEY INTERVIEW: Natural Ingredients Driving Innovation at Frutarom

12 Sep 2016 --- The food industry is moving away from globalization and heading towards a more local, traditional and cultural approach, according to Frutarom. Having been heavily established since 1933 in the flavors and fragrance sector, Frutarom is rapidly developing global flavors and ingredients, placing themselves as a leading competitor within the market. FoodIngredientsFirst caught up with Maider Gutierrez, Marketing Manager at Frutarom Health, who described the current market as more demanding than ever. 

“With more cases of adulteration and contamination, the market is becoming more challenging and the stakes are high,” explains Gutierrez. “The regulatory environment around the ingredients and botanical markets continues to tighten. We saw it last year with the new EU regulation on PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and we see it now with the recent developments about Pyrrolizidine-alkaloids.”

“That’s why our EFLA HyperPure Line, a line of botanical extracts manufactured using the HyperPure technology, is the answer to the PAHs regulation,” she notes. “As a sustainable, ‘eco-green’ technology that ensures the removal of these contaminants, it provides more natural ingredients, and answers the growing demand for increased supplement safety.” 

Gutierrez says that Frutarom have received increased attention from manufacturers concerned about possible ingredients contamination, and thus are seeking botanical extracts with safety assurances – as with the EFLA HyperPure seal. She adds: “Our HyperPure technology has become an industry standard for safety and purity. Customers want to know more about this patented process; they understand it helps create a competitive advantage for their products.”

What consumer trends are currently driving innovation for Frutarom? “Among the most important trends driving the growth for Frutarom and other players in the health ingredient market is the increasing demand for natural and “local” products as consumers move away from synthetics ingredients and go back to tradition,” confirms Gutierrez. 

Frutarom believe that consumers deserve the best quality products and should not compromise on cheap, untrusted solutions. 

For today’s consumer, it is all about trust, transparency and authenticity; they’re actively seeking healthy products with an immediate effect, but at the same time they want to know where these products come from and that they are completely safe to use.

“We also see an increasing demand for natural solutions enhancing cognitive performance,” notes Gutierrez. “To maintain an optimum cognitive function even in stressful situations has become increasingly essential in our societies. However, it is not always easy to manage the different challenges of our daily lives.” 

“More and more people perceive an increasing level of stress which, on the long run, may lead to health issues. Specifically millennials are hungry for products that can help them manage their busy lives,” she adds. 

“Traditional plants can be a safe, healthy and natural solution and products that help ensure a sharp mind will grow in popularity and advance the brain-health category over the next years.” 

“Our green oat extract, Neuravena, is continuing to gain interest in the market,” says Gutierrez. “As a natural ingredient, Neuravena offers a safe and effective solution to enhance overall mental fitness and support of cognitive performance in stressful situations. In particular, working professionals in stressful jobs and under performance pressures are the ideal target group for preparations that help them to stay calm and focused.”

Products helping to increase drive and learning ability by supporting concentration and cognitive performance can bring the attention of students and young professionals who want to make sure their minds are sharp for the next test. “Eventually, every age group can benefit from better cognitive performance: teenagers and young adults, working professionals but also the ‘Golden Agers,’ who want to stay active, vital and focused to enjoy life,” she explains. 

Currently, Frutarom Health strive to guarantee that health-supporting ingredients are backed up by extensive scientific research and comply with the highest quality standards, selecting pure raw materials and applying the most advanced technologies and scientific research.

“We are also looking into further strengthening the science of our most successful branded ingredients, such as Neuravena, Go Less, Benolea and CitrOlive. However, we have also new products in our R&D pipeline to ensure sustainable growth over the next years.”

Gutierrez comments further: “With regards to safety assurance, we have a procedure in force to detect and exclude, by batch selection, pyrrolizidine-alkaloid contaminated products from processing. On top of this, we are currently working on innovative technological solutions to manage the pyrrolizidine-alkaloids issues.” 

“We continue as well to strength the science that support our ingredients and have some very interesting studies ongoing in different areas such as cognitive and immune health,” she continues, “We are also launching innovative ingredients in the areas of cardiovascular health in the coming months.”

So what does the future hold for Frutarom? Frutarom has entered a strategy of sustainability and traceability to a high level. Gutierrez states: “We are working with farmers form many and most of our branded ingredients, not only to ensure and control sustainability and traceability but also to increase food safety standards by reducing the risk of sourcing adulterated products.”

“Our strong growth strategy combines an above- industry average organic growth level and strategic acquisitions of synergistic companies,” says Gutierrez. “With our acquisition last year of Nutrafur in Spain, we expanded our product portfolio to include ingredients from the Mediterranean region with a widely acknowledged wellness reputation.”

Frutarom’s production and technological infrastructure and its portfolio of natural solutions in the pharma field has further been reinforced this year with the acquisition of Extrakt Chemie in Germany. The company did follow a similar strategy not only for its standard products, but especially for its organic offering.

“But we are not done yet,” concludes Gutierrez, “The pace of acquisition will continue. There are certainly things in the pipeline for Frutarom and it will definitely continue this way.”

by Elizabeth Kenward