Corbion expands non-GMO powdered vinegar production amid sustainability push

04 Jan 2019 --- Corbion, a leading supplier of biobased food and biochemical ingredients, has completed construction for in-house production of the powdered vinegar component on which the company has based numerous sustainable, clean label solutions for food applications. The new state-of-the-art facility for creating non-GMO powdered vinegar, located in Gorinchem, The Netherlands, is now fully operational.

The strategic investment is intended to help ensure continuity and security of supply for Corbion customers who have embraced the company’s vinegar-based solutions as effective alternatives to synthetic ingredients.

The new state-of-the-art facility for creating non-GMO powdered vinegar, located in Gorinchem, The Netherlands, is now fully operational.“Corbion’s powdered vinegar solutions are consistently proving highly effective in preserving safety and shelf-life in a wide range of foods,” says Ruud Peerbooms, Senior Vice President-Food at Corbion, “and they help manufacturers respond to consumers who prefer products with ingredients they understand. We want to continue leveraging our expertise in natural fermentation processes and developing even better ways to use vinegar’s potential as a natural preservative. Bringing much of our vinegar production in-house will allow us greater efficiency and control in doing that.”

Combining in-house capabilities with sourcing through strategic co-manufacturing partnerships creates a global footprint of production assets and a highly secure supply chain for powdered vinegar products at Corbion, according to Peerbooms. That enhanced security sets the company up to meet growing customer demand while driving the development of new clean-label innovations, he adds.

“The consumer-driven clean-label movement is not a trend anymore. It’s here to stay,” Peerbooms notes. “Powdered vinegar is a key to the future of clean label, sustainable food preservation solutions, and this investment will support Corbion’s growth as a leading provider of those solutions.”

Linda Duijnhouwer-Tomaselli, Marketing Manager, Sweet & Savory, CorbionThe company’s Verdad range of solutions is based on vinegars, ferment blends, and other functional natural ingredients, enabling more consumer-friendly ingredient labeling while extending shelf-life, improving yield and enhancing safety without sacrificing quality.In September 2018, we reported that Corbion had launched Verdad MP100, a natural mold inhibitor, which matches calcium propionate for mold control and tops competing clean label solutions. The combination of vinegar and natural flavor is claimed to match the mold-inhibiting functionality and flavor neutrality of calcium propionate, a synthetic solution long relied upon by the baking industry to extend the shelf-life of bread.

In an interview with The World of Food Ingredients in December 2018, Linda Duijnhouwer-Tomaselli, Marketing Manager, Sweet & Savory, Corbion notes the significance of sustainability on the company’s expansion strategy. “Our sustainable ingredient solutions are based on renewable resources. We believe that these inherently circular solutions are a key enabler for a circular economy; they can be a sustainable alternative for ingredients derived from fossil fuels. Our society’s dependency on fossil resources is a major challenge, and a serious concern. It is imperative we transition to a circular economy, using renewable resources powered by renewable energy. We feel well-positioned to support customers with this transition. For instance, 98 percent of our products are already bio-based and we’re aiming for 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030, a goal we are confident that we will achieve,” she notes.