Functional Technologies' Acrylamide Yeast Achieves FDA GRAS Approval

"The food industry, in multiple product categories such as bread / baked goods and numerous snack food and cereal products, now has the means to significantly and efficiently minimize acrylamide in the manufacturing of their products," says Dr. John Husnik, senior scientist at Functional Technologies.

6 Sep 2012 --- Functional Technologies Corp. has reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted the Company's Generally Regarded As Safe Notice that was submitted in February 2012 for its acrylamide-preventing yeast strains.

"The food industry, in multiple product categories such as bread / baked goods and numerous snack food and cereal products, now has the means to significantly and efficiently minimize acrylamide in the manufacturing of their products," says Dr. John Husnik, senior scientist at Functional Technologies.

"Acrylamide mitigation is an ongoing challenge for many food and beverage products. The introduction of this proprietary yeast offers a unique approach for reducing acrylamide and will help food and beverage manufacturers with the challenge," adds Carlos Barroso, a senior global food industry veteran and a member of Functional Technologies' Advisory Board.

In its GRAS submission, the Company provided experimental data to support of its claim that the Company's proprietary acrylamide-preventing yeast should be generally regarded as safe. The Company's yeast has now been included on the U.S. FDA's list of substances that are generally regarded as safe joining such products as baker's yeast and other commercial yeasts.

"This acceptance of our proprietary acrylamide-preventing yeast as GRAS by the FDA is a major milestone for our Company," says Howard Louie, Functional Technologies' Chairman and Chief Business Development Officer. "The FDA's validation is recognized worldwide and should greatly assist us in our global development, marketing and sales efforts in the various food sectors that we have been working with as we move toward commercializing our proprietary acrylamide-preventing yeast platform."