Weekly Roundup: Fermentalg and DSM partner on omega 3, Curcumin gut health benefits

21 Sep 2018 --- The weekly roundup is NutritionInsight's collection of global nutrition stories from the past week. Fermentalg and DSM Nutritional Products entered a five-year commercial agreement for omega 3 products. Research has found that Sabinsa's curcumin products can have a positive effect on gut health, while analysis highlighted the need for more accurate cranberry authentication tools. Mühlenchemie’s Chinese production facility has been certified to supply fortified foods to the UN World Food Programme.

In brief: Acquisitions, mergers and expansions
Fermentalg and DSM Nutritional Products have signed a commercial agreement in the field of high potency DHA products. The deal, which will be for five years, states that Fermentalg and DSM will work together to develop and market high potency DHA products based on Fermentalg's ORIGINS DHA-550 product line and grants DSM exclusive rights to sell the products in certain market segments. “This is groundbreaking news for Fermentalg,” says Philippe Lavielle, Fermentalg's CEO. “It will accelerate the penetration of ORIGINS DHA-550 into the dynamic and fast-growing high potency DHA omega 3 market, with the potential of elevating Fermentalg to the top tier of the world's largest algal DHA producers.”

In brief: Research studies
Curcuminoids have been found to have a beneficial effect on gut microbiota population redistribution in humans. The study, published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine, used turmeric powder in combination with Sabinsa’s BioPerine and Curcumin C3 Complex. The company's founder, Dr. Majeed, pointed out that Curcumin C3 Complex and BioPerine are unique ingredients, so the same effects may not be observed with all generic turmeric materials.

A recent quality analysis of ten commercially available cranberry products indicated a need for more accurate cranberry authentication tools, according to researchers. Their review, which was published in Food Control, highlighted that distinguishing and quantifying cranberry PACS within complex mixtures is very challenging, yet the traceability of finished products to their botanical origin is critical for authentication. The French review highlighted the limitations of high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and other standard analytical tools. The researchers used Fruit d’Or Cranberry Juice as a reference, due to its standardized quality.

In brief: Miscellaneous
Mühlenchemie’s, provider of solutions for flour standardization, flour improvement and flour fortification, production facility in Suzhou now meets all the quality requirements for supplying the UN World Food Programme (WFP) with micronutrient premixes, as determined by an audit from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). GAIN was commissioned by the World Food Programme to ensure that it maintains the highest quality standards in the production of foods for the WFP. This is the fourth Mühlenchemie plant to be certified by the NGO after Germany, Mexico and the US. It widens the company’s international network of production facilities in which fortified foods can be produced locally according to the same high-quality standards. 

By Laxmi Haigh