The company announced yesterday that it had signed an exclusive agreement with France-based Ferco to become the long-term supplier of the Grap’Active range of extracts. The extract is designed to provide high levels of polyphenols, both as an ingredient and supplement, says the product’s manufacturer.
Dansico claims the deal fits its long-term strategic focus on health and nutrition markets, particularly for polyphenol products, which the company has actively expanded in through a similar agreement last year with UK-based Coressence.
Mainstream position
In looking ahead, Danisco said that it would continue to look at strengthening its position for providing health and ingredients products, though the mainstream acceptance of polyphenols made them a particular interest to the company.
Polyphenols are a class of antioxidant present in fruits and a number of other sources, which have been linked by clinical research to a number of potential health benefits.
Citing research by analyst Frost & Sullivan, Danisco said that in Europe alone, the polyphenol market was estimated to be worth over €100m. Along with green tea flavonoids, grape and olive polyphenols were also seen as major areas for expansion potential, the research stated.
The group told NutraIngredients.com that through its first collaboration with Ferco, it hoped to find benefits from expanding Danisco’s portfolio of ingredient products on a global basis.
“Danisco has signed an exclusive agreement with Ferco which means that [the company] will be the sole supplier of Grap'Active products for the food, beverage and supplement industries worldwide,” stated a spokesperson.
Grap’Active
The Grape derived Grap’Active is produced through a patented extraction technique using water, according to Danisco.
Fabienne Saadane-Oaks, president of Danisco BioActives, said that the securing the agreement for the product would be a major push in meeting its wider growth ambitions.
“Natural grape polyphenols are of high interest to our food, beverage and supplement customers, as they offer health benefits with an all-natural positioning and a clean labelling,” stated Saadane-Oaks.
The group added that the extract was additionally tasteless and water soluble meeting demand for finished products with low sugar or artificial preservative free formulations.
Other deals
Last October, Danisco announced a similar long-term cooperation agreement with Coressence to grant it exclusive rights to push the Evesse polyphenol-rich apple ingredients across EU and US markets.