Rosemary extract sector awaits antioxidant approval
ingredient to be labelled as an antioxidant, the sector could turn
solid growth into rocketing sales.
The market for rosemary extracts is already healthy. Suspicion over chemical-derived synthetic preservatives has pushed food makers to source natural preservatives such as rosemary extract instead, and market analysts Global Information pitch the global food preservative market at €422.7 billion, reaching €522 billion by 2008.
Jacques Dikansky, chief executive of France-based rosemary extracts firm Naturex, believes that if the EU approves the labelling of the extracts as antioxidants, the market has scope for even greater growth.
He estimates that the sector is currently growing at between 10 and 20 per cent a year. Avignon-based Naturex reported a turnover of €34.8 million for 2004, a growth of 23.7 per cent on the prior year.
Vitiva, a Slovenian based rosemary antioxidant producer, claims to have a 70 per cent market share of the active ingredient market in Europe, though this figure is disputed by Naturex.
In any case, it is clear that the sector has experienced rapid growth in recent years. However, there are some concerns that the sector is perhaps not achieving its true potential because of regulatory issues, and the fact that rosemary extract is as yet not listed as an antioxidant could be limiting its impact.
"A few years ago we faced a problem in Europe over legislation," said Dikansky. "Rosemary is considered to be a flavour and not an antioxidant, even though it is often used as such."
Dikansky believes that this needs to be changed. It is wrong, he claims, to label an ingredient - rosemary - as a natural flavour when in fact it is ostensibly used as an antioxidant.
Some authorities such as the French have recognised this fact, though European legislation has been slow to catch up. As a result, Naturex, along with three other industry leaders, formed a loose association in order to finance various toxicological studies.
"This has now finished, and we hope to get rosemary extracts registered soon, probably in 2006. This is what we've been working for."
Dikansky is proud of what his company has achieved in the rosemary extracts market, and emphasises the pro-active nature of the sector.
"If this group of four leading rosemary companies had not financed this study, then no one would have been able to," he added.
