Roquette, a global leader in plant-based ingredients for food, nutrition and health markets, biotech pioneer BRAIN AG, and BRAIN Group company AnalytiCon Discovery have successfully completed the R&D phase for the development of Brazzein. The partners have now signed a contractual agreement for its approval and production.
Brazzein is a protein sweetener which is naturally found in African berries Pentadiplandra brazzeana Baillon. This high intensive sweetener provides an outstanding sweetening potency still preserving taste profile and sugar free functionality. As part of their newly agreed Joint Development Agreement (JDA), Roquette and BRAIN, will now progress with the approval and industrial scale-up of the protein sweetener in the food and beverage sector. Roquette and BRAIN, who first came together during the DOLCE research program and subsequently decided to further develop this sweetener by fermentation, see very good commercial opportunities for this compound, primarily in the beverage industry.
In preparation for the upcoming production phase, BRAIN has already established a highly potent GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) microorganism for the biotechnological production of the sweetener. GRAS strains are well suited for the approval for the food and beverage sector, and BRAIN has already produced the sweetener at laboratory scale with commercially viable yields.
Dr. Sergio Neves, Head of Nutrition & Health, R&D at Roquette emphasizes: “Having completed the DOLCE R&D program, we are now looking to upscale production, and expect to bring the protein sweetener to the market within the next three to four years. Several top Food & Beverage companies have already shown great interest and aim to support us in this project.”
Adriaan Moelker, CEO BRAIN AG, comments: “We are very pleased with the positive feedback from Roquette and various consumer goods manufacturers. The sweetener, which we are now jointly approving and producing, was developed especially for the beverage industry, which today utilizes approximately 70% of the sugar consumed worldwide in its products. This illustrates the sales potential that this novel sweetener offers. In the fast growing sweetener market, where taste profile and nutrition have to be enhanced in parallel, we expect our new product to strongly meet the increasing consumer demand.”
More about BRAIN
B.R.A.I.N. Biotechnology Research and Information Network AG (BRAIN AG; ISIN DE0005203947 / WKN 520394) is one of Europe’s leading technology companies in the area of industrial biotechnology, the core discipline of the bioeconomy. As such, BRAIN identifies previously untapped efficient enzymes, microbial producer organisms and natural substances from complex biological systems, in order to make them utilizable in an industrial context. The innovative solutions and products developed by means of “Nature’s Toolbox” are successfully applied in the chemicals, cosmetics and food industries.
BRAIN's business model stands on on two pillars. The BioScience segment comprises mainly research and development business with industrial partners, and the company’s own research and development. The BioIndustrial segment consists mainly of business with industrially scalable products. As part of a growth-oriented industrialization strategy, in February 2016 BRAIN AG became the first bioeconomy company to be listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
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