Ingredion Enters the Carrageenan Space With Gelymar Alliance

16 Feb 2015 --- Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global provider of ingredient solutions, has entered into a commercial agreement with Gelymar, one of the top four producers of carrageenan, based in Santiago, Chile. Ingredion will commercialize Gelymar’s carrageenan and textural solutions for the food and personal care industries in the U.S. and Canada.

This region is one of the largest markets for carrageenan products. The alliance between Ingredion and Gelymar will allow both companies to commercialize carrageenan and textural solutions into the U.S. and Canadian markets, providing manufacturers with the latest technologies to develop unique solutions. Ingredion will be introducing these products to the market over the next 90 days.

With more than 3,700 miles of coast, Chile benefits from the world’s largest raw material bio-diversity fed by the pristine and nutrient rich water from the Antarctic Ocean. Gelymar operates two production facilities located in the south of Chile. With the world’s largest spread of extraction technologies, Gelymar has one of the most advanced seaweed sustainability and traceability programs, and the ability to process fresh wet raw material to maximize functionality while optimizing its carbon and water footprint.

Carrageenan is primarily used in dairy, meat and other applications to form gels, deliver creaminess, provide a clean flavor, and help prevent syneresis. It is also highly compatible with starch as it provides stabilizing properties, suspension qualities and added viscosity.

Marcelo Nichi, Sr. Manager of Texture with Ingredion told FoodIngredientsFirst: "We believe that Carrageenan is a good fit to our specialties portfolio as it allows Ingredion to enhance our texture offerings through additional functionalities in key segments like Dairy and Meat, where Carrageenan is also highly compatible with starch. In addition, our partner Gelymar has one of the most advanced seaweed sustainability and traceability programs with tight control of its supply chain, ensuring higher quality and more reliable supply to our customers."

“This collaboration helps to propel our specialty ingredients business growth by providing our customers with yet another innovative solution to achieve their food and beverage formulation goals,” said Igor Playner, Ingredion vice president of innovation and strategy. “Expanding into hydrocolloids rounds up our texture offerings and allows us to develop a broader portfolio and systems, while accelerating our current applications expertise.”

At the end of last year, Ingredion entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Penford Corporation, a U.S.-based leader in specialty ingredients for food and non-food applications $340 million. Penford sticjholders approved the merger earlier this month.

Nichi noted: "With the Penford acquisition in place, Ingredion will have a broader portfolio and systems, complemented with potato based starches and other nature-based hydrocolloids, which allows us to provide our customers with  innovative solutions to achieve their food and beverage formulation goals. These strategic initiatives are important steps in the execution of our strategic blueprint for growth."