Kemin Industries Acquires Unique Beta-Glucan Technology

29 Mar 2017 --- Kemin Industries, a global nutritional ingredient company that uses science to create solutions and products, has acquired unique beta-glucan manufacturing technology from Algal Scientific, a company headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan.

“The acquisition of this beta-glucan manufacturing technology, developed by Algal Scientific, will provide Kemin with capabilities and products needed to further expand our antibiotic alternative portfolio for animals, and offer important scientific advancements for humans and pets,” said Dr. Chris Nelson, President and CEO of Kemin Industries.

“We are focused on ways to rapidly impact our customers' business through strategic acquisitions of differentiating technology.”

Innovation is high on the agenda at Kemin. In a recent interview with NutritionInsight, Stefaan Van Dyck, the President of the food technologies division explained, “If we have a certain customer need, a problem which often can be solved with a synthetic solution, we explore if there could be a natural molecule that could be used to do the same, and then we look at how are we going to harvest it from nature.”

“Then we look at different plants that can be used, which contain that molecule - we find the best plant to grow in order to harvest that molecule in the most efficient way.”

Headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, Algal Scientific focuses on solutions for animal and human nutrition using a unique algae production system.

This technology produces highly concentrated products to support gut health in both animals and humans.

These products are available for sale in many regions globally, and Kemin will work to expand product registrations immediately.

“As a start-up, Algal Scientific invented this technology and extensively researched the science behind the differentiated beta-glucan,” said John Tucker, CEO of Algal Scientific.

“Kemin is uniquely suited to exploit this technology and offer advanced products to customers globally.”

Kemin welcomes the technology inventors and nearly a dozen new employees with expertise in both production and research to the Kemin team. Kemin plans to continue researching these products to further expand application of the technology.