Stain-free turmeric: AFS launches free-flowing curcumin ingredient

16 Oct 2018 --- Applied Food Sciences (AFS) is set to debut a free-flowing curcumin extract, CurcuFlow, designed for manufacturers to achieve a cleaner, stain-free turmeric production. Due to the lengthy cleanup times, some companies refuse to take on turmeric projects with traditional curcumin ingredients. Production runs involving traditional turmeric extracts can incur post-production clean times that are 5 to 6 times longer than when running other ingredients.

CurcuFlow beadlets were developed to provide processors a clean solution for formulating with turmeric while maintaining an industry-leading content of active curcuminoids. The ingredient is touted as providing the functional benefits of curcumin along with exceptional handling properties. Curcuflow contains 95 percent active curcuminoids and possesses antibacterial and antifungal properties. It can be used as an anti-inflammatory ingredient for joint and muscle health, as well as for topical solutions for skin health.

“Set to make its debut in November 2018, at the SSW show in Las Vegas, CurcuFlow organic curcumin extract has been in trial formulations with some of our more innovative and trusted customers already. With its unique beadlet application, the results, thus far, have been outstanding. We have had a reporting in up to 95 percent more efficiency in clean up time compared to traditional turmeric ingredients. Our partnerships in supplement manufacturing have been key in supporting and driving the development of our new ingredient technologies,” Brian Zapp, Creative Director at AFS tell NutritionInsight.

“As food scientists continue to innovate with technologies, like CurcuFlow, turmeric will increasingly get easier to work with, and we can expect that market size to grow at an even more extensive rate,” he notes. “Turmeric is not the only ingredient that stains equipment and inhibits manufacturing. Our technology is being applied to other ingredient offerings as well.”

“We are excited to demonstrate how CurcuFlow can change the way businesses work with curcumin,” says Christine Fields, Vice President of Scientific Affairs for Applied Food Sciences. “Our innovation team has succeeded in developing a technology that can improve the ability to mix and blend curcumin into formulations, including tablets, and compress it into various supplement applications. This will reduce cleanout times significantly during production line changes. Our objective is to inherently lower a business’ total overhead costs and maximizes equipment utilization which is a genuine game changer for this popular ingredient.”

Trust and transparency are essential to the future success of turmeric and curcumin-based products. To certify 100 percent turmeric in AFS’ curcumin extracts, the company reports it has developed a multistep approach which incorporates both USP and AOAC validated methods for specific compound identification. In addition, AFS then conducts isotope testing to ensure no synthetic substances have been introduced in the raw material.