Japan red yeast rice extract crisis: The three key elements that require safety tests during production
Red yeast rice extract production would need to fulfill three key elements to ensure product safety, industry experts said amid a food safety scandal that occurred earlier this year involving Kobayashi Pharmaceutical and its red yeast rice raw materials and products.
Some compounds that could undermine the safety of red yeast rice extract included pesticides, heavy metals and the mycotoxin citrinin. In the case of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, the company had detected puberulic acid – a potent antimalarial agent in its products.
Dr. Tzu-Ming Pan, chief technology officer at Taiwan-based SunWay Biotech and Honorary Professor at National Taiwan University’s Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, said that Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) could offer more assurance to product safety.
From COVID-19 to Chemist Warehouse: Kaneka breaks down factors driving uptake of ubiquinol in China, Australia
Ubiquinol, the active form of co-enzyme Q10, has seen a strong uptake in China and Australia, said supplier Kaneka.
In China, for instance, consumer interest in ubiquinol has been driven by products that could support heart health post-COVID infection.
Elsewhere in Australia, interest in ubiquinol has been generated by endorsement from major pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse.
Morinaga Milk tackles Japan’s healthy ageing needs with functional food innovation
Morinaga Milk has incorporated its functional ingredients for supporting healthy ageing needs into functional food formats, such as yogurt, sachet powder, milk formula, and fermented drinks.
An example is its fermented drink made using its flagship human-residential Bifidobacterium probiotic strain Bifidobacteria longum BB536. The drink, which claims to reduce fatigue, belly fat, and improve intestinal environment, also contains acetic acid produced when fermenting whey and other ingredients with BB536.
Another example is an elderly milk powder containing BB536, lactoferrin, and postbiotic LAC-Shield – a functional immune health ingredient.
Blurring boundaries: Cargill builds on infant nutrition and flavours expertise to advance specialised nutrition business
Cargill said it would build on its decades-long experience in infant nutrition and know-how on flavours to grow its specialised nutrition business – a focus area for the company’s next stage of development.
In fact, one in 10 babies globally who are bottle-fed already consume infant formula with a Cargill ingredient in it, according to Jing Yu, the company’s commercial director for specialised nutrition in Asia-Pacific.
The company aims to capitalise on its capabilities and relationships with existing customers to advance its Specialised Nutrition business, focusing on developing “insights-led, science-back innovations” to support consumer needs across life stages.
Newly crowned Nutrachampion to advance GLP-1 research, active ageing, women’s health
Ramasamy Venkatesh, managing director and founder of Gencor Pacific who was crowned the Nutrachampion in this year’s NutraIngredients-Asia’s Awards, said that his company was developing nutraceutical ingredients for promoting the body’s GLP-1 production, with “good data” obtained so far.
Glucagon-life peptide or GLP-1 is an appetite hormone that regulates feelings of hunger, and Venkatesh said that his company has been doing work around natural GLP-1 agonists and GLP-1 facilitating compounds that could help management metabolism.
This includes aspects across satiety, glucose control, lipid control, and fat control.
Fish oil supply to recover as 2024’s first fishing season ends on a high note – GOED
The first Peruvian fishing season in year 2024 had ended on a high note, with oil yield expected to hit at least 75k tons, said industry body GOED.
This followed a period of fish oil drought that happened last year due to El Niño sweeping across the eastern Pacific Ocean. This has led to unusual warming of surface waters and anchovy fish quote has been slashed and cancelled fishing season.
However, the situation has improved this year with oil yields from the first fishing season of the year expected to hit 75k to 85k tonnes, according to The Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s.
PODCAST: Malaysia postbiotics firm My Myracle sets ambitious goal of reducing import reliance
A Malaysia homegrown postbiotics company has set the ambitious goal of reducing the country’s reliance on imports of overseas “biotics” raw materials, managing director of the firm told us in one of our Nutrachampion podcast episodes this year.
My Myracle, founded by seasoned businessman Chin Kok Tian, specialises in postbiotics for human health, skincare, and pet health. The postbiotics are made using non heat-killed technique developed by local researchers from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
Chin said he would apply his principles from running Eramas Group – which spans across coconut, palm oil, fats, and dairy products exports, to My Myracle.
Back in the game: Why Life-Space’s former boss is returning to the biotics business after bumper 2018 sale
Life-Space’s former CEO and founder Craig Silbery has made a return to the human biotics space as he sought to make Australia a world-class site for manufacturing probiotics and postbiotics.
Speaking in our Nutrachampion podcast, Silbery said his newly founded company, Specialty Probiotics Australia, would be manufacturing probiotics and postbiotics ingredients that could be made into gummies, bone broth and dog food.
By early next year, he also hopes to start manufacturing finished products and at the same time, upgrading his production facility to create products in new dosage and packaging formats.
Next big opportunity? Market interest in Middle East’s nutraceutical sector on the rise – TCI
There has been growing interest in Middle East’s nutraceutical sector, said Taiwan biotech firm TCI Co. Ltd, which has debuted in Dubai with its collagen ingredient.
Collagen, a beauty-from-within ingredient, was selected as its point of entry into the Middle East as the company believes that there is higher acceptance for such offerings.
For a start, it said it would focus on working with clients in developing collagen supplements for improving skin elasticity.
Krill oil NPD: China firms apply phospholipid omega-3 into adult milk powder and more
China companies have been pushing for new innovations in the krill oil sector, said krill oil supplier Aker Biomarine which cited local milk powder firm Beingmate (贝因美) as one example.
Beingmate, for instance, has incorporated the phospholipid-bound omega-3 and ingredients such as calcium and selenium into adult milk powder.
The trend has been driven by a greater understanding of krill oil’s benefits among both the industry and consumers, said Aker Biomarine.
