Ganeden VP: Next year is going to be exceptional for us internationally
“Two years ago we shipped to two countries,” Mike Bush, Senior VP of Ganeden, told us. “This year we’ve shipped to 30 countries. We’ve worked hard to get regulatory approvals in a lot of countries. We expect next year to be an exceptional year internationally.”
The strain
GanedenBC30 has significant advantages over rival probiotic strains in food and beverage applications owing to its unique ability to withstand extremes of temperature and harsh processing techniques.
GanedenBC30 is a spore-forming bacterium, which means that inside the bacterial cell is a hardened structure, or spore, a bit like a seed. This safeguards the cell’s genetic material from the heat and pressure of manufacturing processes, stomach acid and bile.
The company is no longer active in supplements after selling its over-the-counter line of supplements to Schiff in 2011 (Schiff was subsequently acquired by RB).
“Today, we’re about 40% beverage and 60% food,” said Bush. “It’s a pretty even split but we are doing more with protein products for sports nutrition and active adult nutrition.”
The probiotic is found in a wide variety of products, including tea, coffee, cookies, pizza bases, buttery spreads, baking mixes, RTD smoothies, cookies, bars, juices, and much more. While the application can vary, one constant must always be an efficacious dose of GanedenBC30, said Bush. “We won’t sell to anyone unless they use an efficacious dose in a standard daily serving.”
Pasta
Bush was talking with FoodNavigator-USA following publication of a new paper in the Journal of Cereal Science which confirmed that GanedenBC30 survives in efficacious amounts thru the manufacturing and preparation of pasta.
The study, the 22nd study on the patented probiotic, was conducted by the University of Verona, developed pasta formulated with GanedenBC30 to analyze and highlight the health potential of a functional pasta. Results of the research showed that GanedenBC30 left the characteristics of the pasta unaffected and displayed survival in efficacious levels at both five and seven minute cook times.
Despite the interesting science, there are not currently any pasta products fortified with GanedenBC30 commercially, said Bush, which represents an opportunity.
“This study is exciting, as it shows the distinctive formulation capabilities of GanedenBC30 in an additional product category that would be impossible for traditional probiotics,” said Bush. “This research not only continues to build on our library of science supporting GanedenBC30, but as a science driven company we are honored that the Italian Ministry of Health continues to choose GanedenBC30 for their studies; a collaboration which dates back to 2007.”
Functional products
What is driving the growth? “Consumers want functional products,” said Bush, “and we’re seeing more products with multiple functional ingredients. If you can formulate a functional product with turmeric and omega-3s and probiotics and you can maintain the flavor profile, then it works. We’re working with Temple Turmeric, Suja, KeVita, these are inherently good products with the probiotics enhancing them.”
So what’s the oddest product out there with BC30 in it? “There’s a blend of spices from Flavor Plus that has an efficacious dose in a serving,” said Bush. “Initially we thought that was odd, but these products are selling well.”
Source: Journal of Cereal Science
Volume 65, Pages 260–266, doi:10.1016/j.jcs.2015.07.017
“Nutritional profile and cooking quality of a new functional pasta naturally enriched in phenolic acids, added with B-glucan and Bacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086”
Authors: C. Fares et al.
