Corbion Opens R&D Lab to Expand Research Capabilities, Extends Natural Line for Uncured Meat

10 Feb 2016 --- Corbion, a leading food ingredients and biobased chemicals company, has officially opened an advanced R&D and applications laboratory in Gorinchem, the Netherlands. The new facility will be pivotal to Corbion’s continued delivery of world-class and ground-breaking food ingredient and biochemical products and services to customers across the globe.

Home to over 150 technical specialists, the laboratory focuses on the conception and development of new biobased products, comprehensive application development work and testing and trials. State-of-the-art equipment and a highly experienced team now enable Corbion to offer customers more collaborative NPD services, faster development times and exhaustive testing and trialing under conditions that mimic their specific manufacturing environments.

Commenting on the opening, Boudewijn van Nuland, VP Marketing at Corbion, says: “This new R&D applications laboratory is a prime example of Corbion’s ongoing commitment to and investment in the development of world-leading solutions and services. With over 80 years in biobased products, this exciting news shows we remain at the forefront of the industry. The laboratory’s state-of-the-art equipment and extensive tasting and microbiology capabilities position us to deliver an even higher level of customer-driven innovation and value over the coming years.”

With an unprecedented range of production and analytical equipment in a purpose-built 3500 square metre facility, Corbion can now innovate faster, manufacture flexibly for rapid sample provision or testing and dramatically boost its efficiency and responsiveness to customers.

Anieke Wierenga, Innovation Director Food at Corbion (pictured) told FoodIngredientsFirst that the need for partnership is a key reason for the expansion. “In the market we see more and more need from customers and suppliers to really collaborate with us in our labs, to test our products in their applications at a lab scale or pilot plant scale, so that we can taste together and do microbiological evaluation on these products together,” she says. 

“We can check the color of the meat or sweets. In all of these cases, we see that there is more need to do that side by side. We also have a brainstorm room at the facilities, in order to work with customers. Also what we see is that while in the past we were able to serve the market with a few blockbuster products, we see more need for differentiation. So we see more need for product development laboratories, where we can do more work on developing powders, liquid blends with specific pH and different mixtures of acids that sometimes also contain different functional ingredients,” she adds.

Out of the new laboratory, the company is developing award-winning food ingredients that provide safety and freshness throughout the food industry. Fitted with dedicated laboratories for various sectors including meat, confectionery and other food and beverage applications, the centre houses cutting-edge manufacturing equipment, microbiology instrumentation, taste testing and sensory facilities and a fully equipped kitchen to mimic product preparation and use in the home.

Despite its recent inauguration, the new laboratory has already originated several revolutionary food ingredients, including Verdad Avanta (a range of multifunctional ingredient solutions for meat and poultry), PURAC Power MA (a malic acid powder for acid-sanded confectionery) and Ultra Fresh Premium Advantage (an enzyme blend that maximizes freshness and shelf life in bakery products).

Corbion Purac is expanding its Verdad Avanta line of clean label ingredients with the launch of Verdad Avanta C100, an optimized powder formulation that provides 90-120 days of Listeria control and extends shelf life for natural uncured meats. 

The Verdad Avanta line is based on a specially formulated blend of natural ingredients, backed by the Corbion Listeria Control Model. As a multifunctional solution, Verdad Avanta C100 provides meat and poultry processors with Listeria control, typical cured meat color, convenience, yield improvement and purge control while still delivering the great taste and cleaner labels consumers expect.

"With Verdad Avanta C100, our customers can provide uncured deli meats, hotdogs, bologna and sausages that taste great and stay fresh longer with ingredient labels consumers understand." "The labeling requirements for Verdad Avanta C100 are vinegar and celery powder, natural ingredients that consumers appreciate," says Tom Rourke, Ph.D., Senior Business Development Manager at Corbion Purac.

Corbion Purac's Verdad range of clean label solutions also includes Verdad Avanta F100 and Verdad Avanta Y100. Verdad Avanta F100 for fresh ground meats extends shelf life up to 10 days and has a strong inhibitory effect against Salmonella spp. in fresh chicken sausages. Verdad Avanta Y100 extends freshness for ready-to-eat meats, provides more than 120+ days of Listeria control and enhances cook yield from 4% to 10% depending on application.

One other innovative platform of development will be confectionery. “Last year we were granted a EU patent for a technology that we use to produce PURAC Powder MA, a coated malic acid product that can be used to produce acid-sanded candies. The nice thing about this technology is that it delivers instant sourness, while the acid-sanded candy stays stable over time,” says Wierenga. 

“We use the acid salt to coat the core of acid. If you would not coat the acid, over the course of a couple of weeks, your candies will start to lose their nice look, feel and the nice acidic sour layer around it. If we coat them it is much more stable. Another possible application of that technology is soft panned candies, where we make the acid part of the sugar coating to give an acid boost. We see in Europe in particular, a huge trend towards more real sourness, zing or intense tastes,” she concludes.

In addition to its work in the food industry, Corbion’s new research center is tasked with the development of biochemical solutions that improve the sustainability and performance of industrial products such as coatings and adhesives, chemicals, home and personal care, pharmaceuticals and animal nutrition. Customers will benefit from first rate pilot plant and scale-up facilities and extensive analytical equipment. Developments in the area of adhesives include PURALACT B3, which can be incorporated into polymers to produce safe, high performance, fully compostable, hot melt adhesives for cases and cartons. The new laboratory will also build on Corbion’s successful PURASOLV esters destined for the agrochemical and electronics markets.

Corbion announced at the end of 2015 that it had developed PLA bioplastic resin from second generation feedstocks. Testing and polymerization of this ground-breaking material took place in dedicated bioplastics R&D laboratories in the new lab building. PLA bioplastics are commonly used in the packaging industry, and increasingly in the durable textile and automotive sectors.

By Robin Wyers