NUTRAHUB®
NUTRAHUB®, a programme dedicated to Nutrition-Health.
Nutrition-Health has become a priority and a real challenge for consumers, industries and public authorities. Roquette has made it one of its strategic development axes for many years now and created NUTRAHUB®, a programme dedicated to Nutrition-Health.
NUTRAHUB®, Roquette's Nutrition-Health programme
Traditional sectors: wheat, maize and potato
Pea: a promising raw material
Microalgae: creation of a new resource
ALGOHUB®, a programme dedicated to microalgae
The whole potential of chlorella!
NUTRAHUB®, Roquette's Nutrition-Health programme
The objective of NUTRAHUB® is to introduce new functional ingredients on the food-processing, pharmaceuticals/cosmetics and animal nutrition markets. The aim is to offer global industrial solutions for the health, nutrition and well-being sectors. For instance, these new ingredients can respond to public health problems such as malnutrition and the prevention of disease.
Fortified by its know-how and loyal to its desire for innovation, Roquette is banking on the potential of three vegetal sectors – traditional raw material (such as maize or wheat), peas and microalgae – and has research programmes dedicated to them.
Traditional sectors: wheat, maize and potato
Since 1933, Roquette has successively developed the following sectors: potatoes, maize and wheat. Starch, proteins, soluble compounds or fibres are extracted from these vegetal raw materials. These ingredients are used in human and animal nutrition but also in pharmaceutical nutrition.
Roquette seeks to add value to these raw materials either by focusing on new functional ingredients or by bringing out the new functions of the ingredients in the range.
Pea: a promising raw material
A natural resource that has already been partially explored (NUTRALYS® protein, for example), pea has yet to show all it can do when it comes to Nutrition-Health. It is in this context that NUTRAHUB® supports research projects on the products and co-products derived from pea: the PEAHUB™ programme.
Microalgae: creation of a new resource
Discovered several centuries ago, microalgae have been studied as an alternative and innovative source of nutrients. These micro-organisms are indeed well-known for their extraordinary composition: proteins of high nutritional value, wide range of vitamins and minerals, various pigments as well as lipids, including omega-3 and omega-6.
Inspired by the "health" potential of microalgae, the Roquette Group developed a real industry devoted to microalgae
This diversification strategy was launched with:
- The creation of the ALGOHUB® research programme,
- The purchase of a European company specializing in the culture of microalgae, in particular Chlorella.
ALGOHUB®, a programme dedicated to microalgae
The year 2008 was marked by the implementation of a research programme dedicated to microalgae: ALGOHUB®.
The ALGOHUB® programme, which is backed by OSEO Innovation and brings together 13 partners(*), has multiple objectives:
- exploring biodiversity,
- producing microalgae in terms of quantity and quality,
- extracting and purifying nutritional compounds
- finally, setting up a concentrated and integrated microalgae sector.
Thanks to their composition and to the prospects they offer for Nutrition-Health, microalgae can be integrated into a wide range of applications, such as pharmaceuticals, food additives or functional nutrition, not forgetting animal nutrition.
(*) The ALGOHUB® partners: Algenics, Bonduelle, Cellial, Ecosolution, Etap, Invivo NSA, Greensea, Sanders, Institut Océanographique Paul Ricard, Institut Pasteur de Lille, PatisFrance-Puratos, Separex, Setubio.
The whole potential of chlorella!
In 2008, Roquette purchased a European company – BPS (Klötze) – specializing in the production of microalgae in photobioreactors. BPS – Klötze is also the European leader in the culture of chlorella.
Chlorella, which is historically consumed in Japan, is well-known for its balanced nutritional composition: proteins (>50% of its composition), pigments (such as chlorophyll and lutein), vitamins including vitamin B12… This microalga is used as a food ingredient in numerous sectors of human and animal nutrition, including food additives and aquaculture.
