Kemin Industries, a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services, is celebrating 25 years of growing its proprietary line of rosemary to create sustainable solutions for foods. Kemin pioneered the use of rosemary molecules in ingredients in the late 1990s and has since established itself as a leader in the market. 

“The Kemin team is incredibly excited to celebrate this major milestone, and we are proud to offer our partners solutions that come from our sustainable, vertically integrated rosemary program,” said Dr. John Greaves, vice president of specialty crops, Kemin Industries. “Being one of the first suppliers in the marketplace, we have dramatically evolved our offerings and continuously improved the production of these specialty crops over the last 25 years.”

Today, rosemary is recognized alongside tocopherols as a major component in maintaining natural freshness and flavor. 

As one of the largest vertically integrated producers of sustainably grown rosemary, Kemin offers a well-tracked supply chain and can trace its crops from cuttings to final product. The company’s proprietary rosemary is formulated into effective clean label solutions to help keep food fresher, safer and more flavorful. 

Prior to the innovation and initial investment by Kemin in developing its own vertically integrated rosemary program, the plant was mainly wild harvested in southern Europe and North Africa. 

“We quickly realized wild harvesting was not sustainable, and we needed to put a rosemary cropping system in place to improve biomass through plant breeding. Kemin developed one of the first rosemary-breeding programs, which took the plant from a Mediterranean evergreen shrub to a high-performance ‘phytochemical manufacturing plant,'” said Greaves. 

“Our scientists analyzed and selected the most potent lines of rosemary from around the globe,” said Greaves. “Then, our team used conventional plant-breeding methods to begin a continuous improvement program, which resulted in one of the largest collections of rosemary in the world.”

Demand for products with simple labels and natural ingredients has skyrocketed, and sustainability in ingredients continues to drive growth. According to Mintel, 42 percent of U.S. consumers feel a strong sense of responsibility to live more sustainably.

Kemin rosemary crops are SCS Sustainably Grown Certified by SCS Global, a certification that recognizes leadership in environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic stability. 

“As we look to the future, Kemin continues to invest in innovation as our scientists and growers work together to discover new molecules for new natural antioxidants,” said Greaves. “We are actively developing new botanical sources of antioxidant molecules to complement rosemary-based formulations and are continually working with extraction and formulation methods to produce the most effective rosemary products.”

To learn more about the Kemin portfolio of natural ingredient solutions to delay food oxidation, extend shelf life and protect color, click here.