Naturex strengthens its range of coloring foods with a new extraction line for blue spirulina

Company: Naturex

Ingredient Snapshot: Already renowned for its extensive coloring foods offer, Naturex is now spearheading its investment in coloring foodstuffs with Vegebrite Ultimate Spirulina. A new extraction line, which triples spirulina production capacity, has been introduced at the company’s production site in Avignon, France. This expansion of Naturex’s manufacturing capacity has been designed to meet the growing global demand for clean label blues and greens.

Spirulina is a microscopic fresh water blue-green alga, often listed as a “superfood”, with its coloring properties derived from the phycocyanin pigment. Naturex’s gentle, water-based extraction process for Vegebrite Ultimate Spirulina ensures a 100 percent natural solution delivering clean-label friendly, trehalose-free formulations, available in various concentrations and formats. It offers all shades of blue, and green when blended with Naturex’s natural yellows.

“The natural color landscape is constantly evolving,” says Nathalie Pauleau, global product manager for Colors. “Natural colors are now a prerequisite in many countries around the world. But health-conscious consumers want to go even further in their quest for transparency and must be provided with fully clean formulations, as minimally processed as possible.

“We are strengthening our coloring foods production capacity in Europe to provide our customers with vibrant colors that will help shorten ingredient lists. With the recent acquisition of Naturex by the Givaudan group, the natural color category has become a key development area of business growth for us.”

Blue food will create a brand new enjoyable and surprising experience, from confectionery to cake decoration, from ice-cream to juice drinks and dietary supplements. Naturex’s Vegebrite Ultimate Spirulina will be presented at Expo West 2019, March 7-9 in Anaheim, California, with a blue frozen yogurt.