Kemin launches clean-label preservative at cereals market

18-Apr-2011 - Last updated on 19-May-2011 at 15:10 GMT

Kemin has debuted a clean-label version of its Fortium rosemary extract in the cereals market, with initial tests showing product integrity after three months compared to controls.

Fortium R20, approved in the European Union under the flavourings directive, is used in meat and poultry, snack foods and confectionary products with Kemin aiming to add granola cereals and cereal bars to the portfolio.

Kemin marketing specialist Kelly Devadder said the US-sourced and EU-manufactured ingredient had demonstrated the ability to completely repel oxidation in granola cereals at three months, while untreated products were oxidating after one month.

Accelerated projections showed shelf-life was maintained at one year or more with products at 40 degrees celsius.

Sensory tests had yielded no issues in taste or texture, she said.

E free

“There is a growing demand for clean-label products and this is natural solution that we believe is superior to other ingredients because of the total vertical integration we possess,” Devadder told FoodNavigator. “This is an E-number-free flavour with antioxidant properties.”

She said it could replace other ingredients such as tocopherols which could be more expensive, along with other synthetic antioxidants. But Devadder declined to reveal pricing scales for Fortium R20 for cereals, while emphasising the vertical integration as a point of differentiation.

The company noted that lipid-heavy cereals were susceptible to oxidation.

In a statement, Frank D’Hondt, business director in Europe for the Food Technologies division of Kemin Industries, highlighted the patented protection of the offering.

“This vertical integration and patented manufacturing process means we not only provide natural products that are label friendly, but natural products that are also safe, efficacious and consistent in their performance,” he said.

EU approved

Last year some rosemary extracts gained official EU recognition as safe and effective antioxidants for food preservation, after a 14-year campaign mounted by three rosemary extract producers – Naturex, Robertet and Raps.

It confirmed the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) opinion issued in March 2008 that “dietary exposure resulting from the proposed uses and use levels were of no safety concern.”

But they do not relate to Kemin's offering, which as a clean-label ingredient, is classified under the flavours directive.

Correction: This story has been amended because it originally stated Kemin's offering was an antioxidant, when it is in fact a flavour.