Naturex offers polyphenols from lettuce

The Avignon-based company today announced a deal with fellow French firm Scalime Nutrition to produce, sell and market Scalime Nutrition's range of polyphenolic extracts, targeted at the nutraceutical, food and cosmetic industries.

"Today, there are no polyphenols extracted from these sources," Jacques Dikansky, President and CEO of Naturex, explained to NutraIngredients.com.

Under the agreement, Naturex will produce, sell and market globally the Scalime extracts.

Ultimately, Naturex will acquire Scalime Nutrition, a small, research set-up, expected to be fully absorbed into the Naturex fold "in several months."

Absorbing a new range, and crucially Scalime Nutrition's patented technology, into Naturex neatly slots into the ambitious French firm's polyphenol portfolio and creates a further opportunity to tap into the growing natural ingredients market.

'Natural' is clearly a powerful, and growing, force in the food and dietary supplement industry, driven by demanding, health-conscious consumers that are turning their backs on synthetic ingredients in favour of natural alternatives.

In addition, costs continue to bite the food industry, a situation unlikely to ease up in the near future as the draw-down on global raw material stocks continues to rise and supplies fail to meet this demand.

As a result, ingredients that offer cost benefits for the food and dietary supplement makers will, arguably, ignite a certain interest.

Dikansky claims the Scalime extracts are cost competitive.

"The raw material source - onions and lettuces sourced from southern France - are relatively cheap," he said.

In addition, food makers require smaller doses of the products for the same effect from alternative products available.

A reduced dose is equal to cost savings.

Together with a full integration into Naturex's NAT'Life™ division for the nutraceutical industry, the Scalime range will be absorbed into the new Naturex cosmetic ingredients division, established earlier this year.

Approved as ingredients that can be used into cosmetic products labelled natural and organic by Ecocert, a French certification organisation for organic products, the Scalime extracts provide anti UV-A and anti UV-B properties and provide protection to surface and deep layers of skin, stated Naturex.

The extracts are also set to build on the firm's NAT'Stabil™ line of natural food preservatives, tapping, in particular, into their antioxidant effects for meat applications.